‘Yoink!’ Florida man fishingarrett doesn’t wait for the Python Challenge to snatch snakes

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission (FWC) hosts an annual 10-day Python Challenge to control the invasive Burmese python population. Wildlife enthusiast Garrett Galvin, known as “fishingarrett” on social media, documents his encounters with various reptiles, including pythons, in the Everglades. No license or permit is required to hunt pythons in Florida as they are an invasive species. Conservationists and hunters across Florida are preparing for an annual “so Florida” tradition in just a few weeks: The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission’s Python Challenge.  Yes, you read that correctly. The FWC has an annual 10-day challenge, during which python hunters compete for cash. It’s one of many efforts the state has employed to try to keep the python population at bay. If you’re not from Florida or live here and don’t know: Burmese pythons are invasive in the state and have an established population in a large swath of South Florida, most notably in the Everglades. The challenge is usually held in August, but this year it will fall in mid-July, beginning one week after Fourth of July weekend. But one Florida wildlife enthusiast and conservationist doesn’t wait for the yearly challenge to “yoink” these swamp monsters from the Everglades
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