The longest Burmese python ever measured was caught in Florida this week: 'It was insane'
FORT MYERS, Fla. − Hunters in South Florida caught the largest Burmese python ever measured, and the lengthy beast is being examined at the Conservancy of Southwest Florida in Naples.
The 19-foot python was caught in the Big Cypress National Preserve in eastern Collier County early Monday morning by Naples hunter and Ohio State University student Jake Waleri, who said the catch was a dream come true.
"I knew we were capable of it but I didn't know it would happen," Waleri said. "Last year my cousin and I caught a snake that was almost 18 feet long, and we realized we could handle a snake of that size."
Capturing the 19-footer was "insane" and "very chaotic," Waleri said. After struggling to subdue the snake, Waleri jumped on it.
"At first I just held on to the tail for dear life. And then one of my friends took a net and tried to pin its head down, and we quickly realized that was not a winning strategy," said Waleri, who has been hunting snakes since 2020. "It's the only snake that's scared me so much that I didn't know what to do"
The longest Burmese python ever measured was caught in Florida this week: 'It was insane'
FORT MYERS, Fla. − Hunters in South Florida caught the largest Burmese python ever measured, and the lengthy beast is being examined at the Conservancy of Southwest Florida in Naples.
The 19-foot python was caught in the Big Cypress National Preserve in eastern Collier County early Monday morning by Naples hunter and Ohio State University student Jake Waleri, who said the catch was a dream come true.
"I knew we were capable of it but I didn't know it would happen," Waleri said. "Last year my cousin and I caught a snake that was almost 18 feet long, and we realized we could handle a snake of that size."
Capturing the 19-footer was "insane" and "very chaotic," Waleri said. After struggling to subdue the snake, Waleri jumped on it.
"At first I just held on to the tail for dear life. And then one of my friends took a net and tried to pin its head down, and we quickly realized that was not a winning strategy," said Waleri, who has been hunting snakes since 2020. "It's the only snake that's scared me so much that I didn't know what to do"
The longest Burmese python ever measured was caught in Florida this week: 'It was insane'
