Burmese python weighing over 200 lbs. caught in Naples, Florida: ‘Next-level snake’
A team of researchers at the Conservancy of Southwest Florida captured a 215-pound, 17.7-foot Burmese python at the beginning of the new year.
Ian Bartoszek, a wildlife biologist and python project manager with Conservancy of Southwest Florida, disclosed to Fox News Digital just how major a find this was for the Everglades region, given that the python is the heaviest on record.
Bartoszek said he "always wondered" if he and his team — including biologist Ian Easterling and intern Kyle Findley — would catch a snake over 200 pounds.
Biologists Ian Bartoszek (right) and Ian Easterling (center) are pictured with intern Kyle Findley (left) and a 17.7-foot, 215-pound female Burmese python. It was captured due to the tracking of a male scout snake in Picayune Strand State Forest in December 2021. (Conservancy of Southwest Florida)
"We put it on the scale, we looked at the number and I think there was collective disbelief," he said. "There was some cackling in the background — like, ‘No way.’"
