{"id":72143,"date":"2025-08-16T07:07:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-16T07:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/72143\/"},"modified":"2025-08-16T07:07:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-16T07:07:08","slug":"florida-woman-catches-60-pythons-to-win-states-annual-python-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/72143\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida woman catches 60 pythons to win state&#8217;s annual python challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!\n  <\/p>\n<p class=\"speakable\">A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/us\/us-regions\/southeast\/florida\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Florida woman<\/a> has been crowned the winner of the state\u2019s annual python challenge after raking in dozens of the invasive species in this year\u2019s competition.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"speakable\">Taylor Stanberry placed first after wrangling 60 of the snakes during the 10-day competition in the Everglades, raking in a whopping $10,000 prize, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/us\/reptile-hunter-climbs-apartment-building-dumpster-remove-16-foot-python-los-angeles\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">REPTILE HUNTER CLIMBS INTO APARTMENT BUILDING DUMPSTER TO REMOVE 16-FOOT PYTHON IN LOS ANGELES<\/a><\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/florida-python-challenge_01.jpg\" alt=\"Florida python challenge winner Taylor Stanberry\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Taylor Stanberry placed first in Florida\u2019s 2025 Python Challenge after capturing 60 snakes in the Everglades. (Taylor Stanberry)<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I hunted every day from sundown to sunup looking for pythons,&#8221; Stanberry told Fox News Digital. &#8220;It was tiring, but so worth it to save the native species here in Florida and to take home the title of first female Ultimate Grand Prize Winner.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>This year\u2019s competition wrangled in a record 294 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/science\/wild-nature\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">invasive Burmese pythons<\/a>, with over 900 participants from throughout the United States and Canada accepting the challenge in south Florida\u2019s swamp.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The 2025 Florida Python Challenge can go in the books as a success thanks to the hard work of staff, generous support from our partners, continued leadership of Governor DeSantis and involvement of the many competitors in this year\u2019s event,&#8221; Rodney Barreto, FWC Chairman, said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/us\/smokey-bear-arrests-man-allegedly-stealing-his-signs-florida-sell-facebook-dumb-criminals\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">SMOKEY THE BEAR ARRESTS MAN FOR ALLEGEDLY STEALING HIS SIGNS IN FLORIDA TO SELL ON FACEBOOK: &#8216;DUMB CRIMINALS&#8217;<\/a><\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/florida-python-challenge_03.jpg\" alt=\"Florida python challenge winner Taylor Stanberry\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Taylor Stanberry placed first in Florida\u2019s 2025 Python Challenge after capturing 60 snakes in the Everglades. (Taylor Stanberry)<\/p>\n<p>Stanberry is the first woman to earn first place in the competition, while also breaking the previous record for most snakes caught since it began in 2013, FWC confirmed to Fox News Digital. She also works as a contract hunter for the state.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I am honored for that title,&#8221; Stanberry said. &#8220;Not only because I work hard daily to save the Evergaldes and the native species that call the Evergaldes home, but also because there are tons of other hard-working hunters out there &#8211; many of them being amazing female contractors.&#8221;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/us\/florida-teen-fights-alligator-dragged-her-underwater\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">FLORIDA TEEN FIGHTS OFF ALLIGATOR THAT DRAGGED HER UNDERWATER<\/a><\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/florida-python-challenge_02.jpg\" alt=\"Florida python challenge winner Taylor Stanberry\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Taylor Stanberry placed first in Florida\u2019s 2025 Python Challenge after capturing 60 snakes in the Everglades. (Taylor Stanberry)<\/p>\n<p>The competition invites novice and professional <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/great-outdoors\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">snake catchers<\/a> to Florida\u2019s Everglades in an attempt to cut down on the invasive species harming the state\u2019s wildlife. Participants are required to trap and humanely kill each snake.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/apps-products\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Under the leadership of Governor Ron DeSantis, Florida has taken unprecedented steps to remove invasive pythons, protect our natural resources and conserve native wildlife,&#8221; South Florida Water Management District Governing Board Member &#8220;Alligator Ron&#8221; Bergeron said, adding, &#8220;Long live the Everglades!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Julia Bonavita is a U.S. Writer for Fox News Digital and a Fox Flight Team drone pilot. You can follow her at <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/juliabonavita13\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">@juliabonavita13<\/a> on all platforms and send story tips to julia.bonavita@fox.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! A Florida woman has been crowned the winner of the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":72144,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[64,63,2755,56425,15031,128,2489,51961,338],"class_list":{"0":"post-72143","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-florida","11":"tag-great-outdoors","12":"tag-national-parks","13":"tag-science","14":"tag-us","15":"tag-wild-nature","16":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72143"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72143\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}