Month-long hunt aims at eradicating Burmese pythons from Florida's Everglades. Nearly 800 people have signed up to hunt Burmese pythons on public lands in Florida.
See photos of contestants after the page cut...
Christopher Padgett, left, and Matthew Manus, from Sebring, Fla. leave their campsite in the Big Cypress National Preserve for their five-day python hunt. The recommended method for killing pythons is a gunshot to the brain, or decapitation, to reduce the threat.
Participants wait in line to register for the Python Challenge. It's the first time the public have been invited to join the hunt, and the 800 people will now join 28 permit holders in competition for cash prizes.
Dan Keenan makes his way through the thick under brush in the Big Cypess National Perserve in the hunt for pythons.
The Burmese python is an invasive species that experts say is decimating native wildlife in the Florida Everglades.
Rodney Irwin looks over his shoulder at his veiled chameleon lizard during the opening ceremonies for the 2013 Python Challenge. Irwin said he had rescued the lizard, native to Yemen, after it was turned loose by a breeder near the Everglades.
Wildlife experts say pythons are just the tip of an invasive species 'iceberg'. Florida is home to more exotic species of amphibians and reptiles than anywhere else in the world, said John Hayes, dean of research for the University of Florida’s Institute for Food and Agricultural Sciences.
TV crews pet and take images as Captain Jeff Fobb, from the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue's Venom Response Unit, holds a python.
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Courtesy: MSN News
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