A man who was caught on camera wrangling an invasive python at Everglades National Park had his citation dropped on Friday.
Yatir Nitzany said he was only trying to help when he grabbed the python as it crossed his path during a trip to the park.
“It is an invasive python, they mess up the pyramid, they have become the apex predator, alligators and panthers won’t even mess with them,” he said.
For his effort, the park ranger slapped Nitzany with a $180 citation for handling wildlife on federal land, which is against the law.
“Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time should not apply to the situation because I did nothing wrong,” Nitzany said.
On Friday, Nitzany and wildlife advocate Ron Magill went to federal court ready to contest the citation and tell the judge how horrible pythons are for the environment.
But the citation was dismissed, and Nitzany said he’s wasn’t given much of an explanation.
“They refused to tell us on what grounds it was dismissed, they just said it was written wrong,” he said.
Nitzany said what really creeped him out were text messages and voicemails from park rangers urging him to settle the matter.
“What we don’t wanna do is ask the judge for a federal bench warrant because you failed to appear in court,” he was told in one of the voicemails.
Nitzany was asked if he found it threatening.
“Yeah I did, because they are basically telling me if you don’t pay it, you can get a bench warrant,” he said.
While state officials encourage people to capture invasive species, the feds don’t.
Magill said it’s a law that needs to change.
“My goal now is to do what I can to change this law, make sure there is a caveat in this law so that people like Yatir aren’t punished for doing the right thing,” Magill said.
NBC6 reached out to the U.S. Attorneys Office to see why the case was dismissed, and reached out to the National Park Service to see if it’s customary for rangers to reach out to people who have received citations.
We have not heard back from either office.