Hunter captures 96 pythons to win Florida's annual Everglades challenge

280 snakes removed over 10 days; more than 19,000 taken since 2017

Tom Rahill removed 96 Burmese pythons from the Everglades to win the 2026 Florida Python Challenge and its $10,000 prize. Rahm Levinson won the $1,000 prize for the longest python killed, at 16 feet 5 inches.

Rahill told a meeting of Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) in Panama City on Wednesday: “I was on a mission to get one of our veterans a big snake. I did it. And we wrestled this thing … The veteran was just over the moon.” His comments were reported by Naples Daily News.

Rahill founded SwampApes in Broward County, an organization that takes veterans suffering from PTSD on python hunts in Florida’s wetlands. After achieving his initial goal of getting a veteran a large snake, Rahill said he went deeper into the Everglades, where he found the 96 pythons that secured his first-place finish.

The competition, hosted by FWC, the South Florida Water Management District, the National Park Service and others, invited hunters to capture and humanely euthanize as many Burmese pythons as possible across eight designated locations. This year’s event drew 907 participants from 30 US states, as well as Canada and Vietnam.

Over the 10 days in July, participants removed 280 snakes. Before the competition began, 1,400 pythons had already been removed from the area this year. Since 2017, the annual challenge has removed more than 1,600 snakes. Combined with FWC contractors who hunt the reptiles year-round, more than 19,000 pythons have been removed from the area since 2017.

Burmese pythons are native to south-east Asia and were first found in the Everglades ecosystem in the 1990s. The snakes have reduced native wildlife populations, and conservative population estimates are in the tens of thousands. Females can lay up to 100 eggs annually. The snakes are difficult to detect, a factor contributing to concerns that the population may be growing faster than removal efforts can keep pace. The challenge is held during the summer hatching season in an effort to boost the number captured.

Sarah Funck, program coordinator at FWC, told Wednesday’s meeting that there is no “silver bullet” to solve the python population, but said the elimination of just one python “is a win for Florida’s native wildlife.”