Python Trained ✔

It's been an awesome 2.8 months and one of the most heart racing activities I took part in was being trained on catching a live Burmese Python (Python bivittatus). This python is an non-venomous snake that is native to Southeast Asia. They became established in Florida due to accidental or intentional release of captive pet animals. Today's population size is set to be as large as 300,000 in Florida, as a result one way to keep up and to eventually start knocking down this number, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) started the Python Pickup Program.

At the training the instructors went over how you can identify these pythons and the expansion of sightings and/or trapped pythons over the years in South Florida. As you may already know pythons are a big problem in the environment currently, as they consume a variety of prey such as mammals, birds and reptiles; decreasing populations of natives and endangered species. Therefore, this training is for anyone interested in knowing how to properly handle a python once spotted (taught by FWC). Catching a python big or small is not a thing everyone has the heart for, and I thought I was one until; I did it.

I can't lie when it was my turn to take down the python and bag it, my heart was racing until I took that knee. I'm left handed and I always feel awkward after being thought how its done from a right hands point of view. However, I felt confident in my plan of attack and took the python down without hesitation. 

-Ayanna