FLORIDA – A woman won $10,000 on Thursday after removing 60 Burmese Pythons from the Everglades in the 2025 Florida Python Challenge.
Taylor Stanberry took home the grand prize after removing 60 pythons, the most in Florida.
Recommended Videos
The 10-day competition included 934 participants from 30 states and Canada, collectively removing 294 invasive Burmese pythons from South Florida.
The FWC said the challenge is intended to increase awareness about invasive species and their threats to Florida’s ecology, while letting the public participate in Everglades conservation.
“The 2025 Florida Python Challenge can go in the books as a success thanks to the hard work of staff, generous support from our partners, continued leadership of Governor DeSantis and involvement of the many competitors in this year’s event,” Rodney Barreto, the FWC Chairman said.
Burmese pythons are not native to Florida and they prey on birds, mammals and other reptiles in South Florida. A female Burmese python can lay 50 to 100 eggs at a time. FWC said anyone can remove and humanely kill pythons and other nonnative reptiles at any time on private lands with landowner permission and on 32 FWC-managed lands throughout South Florida.
To date, over 1,400 pythons have been removed during all challenge events to date and over 16,000 pythons were removed by FWC and South Florida Water Management District contractors since 2017.