A woman, named Taylor Stanberry topped the 2025 Florida Python Challenge.
She captured 60 invasive Burmese pythons, earning the $10,000 grand prize, as confirmed by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC).
The FWC reported that 934 people from the 30 US states and Canada captured a record 294 pythons during the 10-day event.
Stanberry and her husband Rhett from Naples, Florida manage social media pages about snakes and hunting.
"The python, animal that can get 20 feet long and weigh 200 pounds, is destroying the natural food chain. Under the leadership of the FWC, we started the Python Challenge," Ron Bergeron, South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) governing board member, said as per CBS News.
Florida officials said the event is crucial for protecting the state's wildlife and the competition has two main goals: to lessen the damage caused by invasive pythons and to educate the public about the danger these snakes pose to native wildlife in the the Greater Everglades ecosystem
"The Python Challenge is not just catching pythons. That's a part of it. It's educating the public so that when you're in the Everglades, all of the groups that recreate in the Everglades learn how to remove a python safely year-round," Bergeron added.
This year was the first time Everglades National Park was one of the eight official locations for the competition.
