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A python over 5 meters was captured in Florida (2019) 0:42
(CNN) - Mike Kimmel is not a rookie in the python hunting game. He captured hundreds of snakes, which are generally up to 3 meters long.
But as soon as he saw his latest capture, he knew it would be one to remember.
Kimmel, owner of Martin County Trapping & Wildlife Rescue, had gone out to the Florida Everglades last week in hopes of catching a giant Burmese python.
Mike Kimmel with the python he caught.
He made his way to a secluded island where he saw alligator droppings and a black snake, but then he encountered a giant python who instantly knew it was special. "My heart started pounding," Kimmel told CNN. "I've caught big before, but this one seemed extra large."
He was definitely bullied by the snake, he said, but they don't call him the "Cowboy of the Pythons" for nothing. After a brief fight and an unpleasant bite, which was captured in his YouTube video, Kimmel was able to grab the snake's head and successfully drag it back to his boat, where he slaughtered it.
Kimmel is waiting for state authorities to make an official measurement. When he measured the snake at home, it was about 5 meters long and estimated that it weighed between 58 and 68 kilos, he said.
The largest python caught in Florida was 5.7 meters long, according to the state's Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Pythons started appearing in the Everglades in the 1980s, most likely abandoned by pet owners when they got too big to handle. Some may have escaped from a hatchling facility destroyed during Hurricane Andrew in 1992.
Now wildlife officials estimate that there could be as many as 100,000 pythons living in the Everglades. Snakes kill animals of the local fauna such as raccoons, otters, birds and even alligators.
Kimmel plans to sell the snake skin on his website. He said he will also receive a payment from the Florida Python Action Team, which pays people to eliminate invasive species.
"I was proud to have come out on top and I knew I was going to get a good payout," said Kimmel. "But most of all, a snake that size can really reach anything, so I was thrilled to get this dangerous predator out of the ecosystem."
CNN's Alaa Elassar contributed to this report.
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