Alligator Alcatraz detention center in Florida: How many pythons are in the Everglades?
The center was the brainchild of Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, who announced the site in a video on X. In the video, Uthmeier said, "You don't need to invest that much in the perimeter. People get out, there's not much waiting for them other than alligators and pythons."
The Burmese python is one of the largest snakes in the world. Adult pythons average between 6 and 9 feet, though the longest ever caught in Florida was 19 feet. The heaviest was over 200 pounds.
Burmese pythons are an invasive species in Florida, with a population spread across more than 1,000 square miles of South Florida, including Everglades National Park and Big Cypress National Preserve.
According to FWC, Burmese pythons can consume meals equivalent to 100% their body mass. During a study, the Conservancy of Southwest Florida took part in, researchers realized that Burmese python can eat prey larger than previously thought when they observed a python ingesting a 77-pound white-tailed deer, which was 66.9 percent of the snake's mass.
Burmese pythons can pose a threat to human safety. Attacks on humans are improbable but possible in any locality where the animals are present and people are also present.
Here's what to know about the biggest Burmese pythons caught in Florida and how many there are in the Everglades:
Alligator Alcatraz is a temporary migrant detention center near the Florida Everglades.
The controversial center reportedly has a capacity of up to 3,000 detainees, housed in FEMA tents and trailers.
Alligator Alcatraz was erected at the Miami-Dade Collier Training and Transition Airport, a 39-square-mile airport facility with a 10,500-foot runway in Ochopee, an unincorporated community in Collier County, Florida.
The facility is in the Big Cypress National Preserve, which borders Everglades National Park.
Burmese pythons are among the largest snakes in the world, with adult animals averaging between 10 and 16 feet long, according to the University of Florida.
A group of python hunters caught the longest Burmese python ever measured on July 10, 2023, in the Big Cypress National Preserve in eastern Collier County.
The massive snake was 19 feet long.
The heaviest Burmese python ever recorded was caught by Conservancy of Southwest Florida biologists in the Florida Everglades in 2022. The colossal female python weighed an eye-popping 215 pounds and was nearly 18 feet long.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, human fatalities from non-venomous snakes are rare, with an average of one or two per year worldwide.
There have been no human deaths from wild-living Burmese pythons in Florida.
And while python attacks on humans are unlikely, they're not impossible.
Per USGS, "In suburban areas and parks in Florida that contain ponds, canals or other bodies of water where large snakes could feel at home, the situation is likely similar to that experienced with alligators: attacks are improbable but possible in any locality where the animals are present and people are also present. The simplest and most sure-fire way to reduce the risk of human fatalities is to avoid interacting with a large constrictor."
It's hard to get an exact count, given the Burmese python's ability to live in various South Florida environments and the difficulty accessing some areas.
"Burmese pythons are hard to find due to their cryptic coloration and secretive behaviors, and their low detection probability is a major challenge to effective python control and research," according to Florida Fish and Wildlife.
However, conservative estimates by the USGS put the Burmese python population in the Florida Everglades region in the tens of thousands.
The 2025 Florida Python Challenge — a 10-day event to remove invasive Burmese pythons — starts at 12:01 a.m. July 11 and ends at 5 p.m. July 20.
Participants can win money prizes in several categories, including a $10,000 Ultimate Grand Prize.
The top prize of $10,000 goes to the person who catches the most pythons. Those with the most catches in the Novice, Professional and Military categories win $2,500, while runners-up in each group receive $1,500, and $1,000 is awarded for the longest pythons caught.
Burmese pythons captured in Florida must be humanely killed. While they are not protected in Florida, anti-cruelty law still applies.
You can report a python sighting to the FWC.
If you think you see a Burmese python, take a photo, note your location and report your sighting by calling the Exotic Species Hotline at 888-Ive-Got1 (888-483-4681), using the free IveGot1 mobile app or online at IveGot1.org.
This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Alligator Alcatraz in the Everglades: What's the python population?
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FEMA search and rescue teams take days to reach Texas after flooding as agency faces overhaul
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The Indiana team left that state on Tuesday, but a spokesperson could not immediately answer when the team received the FEMA notice. A team from Ohio was activated by FEMA later in the week, according to local media reports, and other crews were activated through a separate state-led mechanism that works with FEMA to deploy its network, CNN has reported. unknown content item - Flash flooding events like the one that ravaged Texas this month are notoriously unpredictable, making it difficult to stage crews in advance of a disaster. Earlier this year, after a flash flood swept through parts of Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia, weeks into President Donald Trump's second term — and months before Noem instituted her expenditure sign-off rule — urban search and rescue teams were deployed by FEMA 'within 12 hours of the initial weather impacts' to help with evacuations, the agency said in a press release at the time. In 2023, FEMA deployed a New York Urban Search and Rescue team to Vermont within a day of major flooding caused by the cresting of the Winooski River inundating downtown Montpelier. Asked about the discrepancies in FEMA search and rescue response time between the Texas flood and the flood earlier this year, a spokesperson for DHS told CNN: 'This is absolute hogwash. Within moments of the flooding in Texas, DHS assets, including the U.S. Coast Guard, tactical Border Patrol units and FEMA personnel surged into unprecedented action alongside Texas first responders. The U.S. Coast Guard alone rescued over 230 Americans. The response of federal first responders alongside local search & rescue was instantaneous.' In the days before FEMA authorized its search and rescue deployments, state and local crews were hard at work. Texas activated some resources, including rescue boat teams, on July 2, two days before the major flooding. 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CNN
2 days ago
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FEMA search and rescue teams take days to reach Texas after flooding as agency faces overhaul
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While disaster responses vary depending on a variety of factors, including the emergency response resources a state has at their own disposal, during previous flash floods FEMA had mobilized search and rescue teams within hours, not days, of the storm. Multiple officials also said that a new rule requiring Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to sign off on relatively small expenditures from her agency, which oversees FEMA, created bureaucratic hurdles during a critical time. That meant the response was unusual and slowed down the agency at a time when quick action was most needed, officials inside FEMA told CNN. While DHS tapped other assets at its disposal from within the federal government, FEMA had deployed only 86 of its own people by Monday, surging to 311 by Tuesday. Spokespeople for two of the search and rescue teams activated by FEMA last week said it was not out of the ordinary to be deployed a few days after a storm, but Democratic lawmakers have raised questions over the larger response from Noem and her agency. A spokesperson for DHS said: 'Secretary Noem is leading a historic, first-of-its-kind approach to disaster funding: putting states first by providing upfront recovery support — moving money faster than ever and jump-starting recovery.' Noem has defended her handling of the disaster, and the response by FEMA appears consistent with the Trump administration's view for how emergencies should be handled under their vision of a restructured FEMA: States take the lead in the response, and the federal government provides support when necessary. 'This is a breakthrough in how FEMA supports state-led disaster recovery,' the DHS spokesperson said in the statement. Five of the teams that deployed to Texas were Indiana Task Force 1; Arizona Task Force 1; Colorado Task Force 1; Nevada Task Force 1; and Missouri Task Force 1. The teams are part of the National Urban Search & Rescue Response System, a collection of 28 task forces across the country that FEMA calls upon that are equipped and able to respond within six hours. Each team has personnel specifically trained in water rescue who 'work alongside local rescuers to help reach and recover survivors' during flooding events, according to FEMA's description of the teams. A spokesperson for the Nevada team said it left for Texas on Tuesday, after getting the go-ahead from FEMA that same day. A spokesperson for the Missouri team said it was activated by FEMA on Monday and left that same night, arriving in Texas on Tuesday. The Colorado team left on Monday, shortly after being notified by FEMA. The Arizona team left for Texas on Tuesday, about 4.5 hours after being notified by FEMA. 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The state has an emergency-management division that is well equipped and has long experience responding to disasters and also saw aid from other states. Within Texas, more than 75 local departments joined disaster aid efforts in the days after the storm, a state official said. Other aspects of the federal government, including the Coast Guard, also responded within those crucial first hours. One Coast Guard swimmer has been credited with rescuing approximately 165 people after deploying early Friday morning. The FEMA delay has underscored concern from some state and local leaders about what could happen when disaster strikes a less-equipped state, or across multiple states. On Thursday, Rep. Jared Moskowitz of Florida, who previously led that state's emergency management division, called for Congress to investigate FEMA's response. 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New York Times
3 days ago
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FEMA Approved Removal of Many Camp Mystic Buildings From Flood Zones
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