Gator Rescued From 10-Foot Python

The Facebook video below from Fox 29 shows a south Florida man rescuing a 4-foot Florida gator from the grip of an invasive 10-foot python snake.

Mike Kimmel, owner of Martin County Trapping and Removals and Martin County Wildlife Rescue, rescued the gator when he discovered the snake wrapped around it in the Everglades on Saturday, June 16.

The Miami Herald quoted Kimmel as saying, “Now they are eating more and more alligators. I personally rescued three alligators last year from being killed by pythons.”

Kimmel is also is a contractor for the snake removal program run by the South Florida Water Management District.

“Just in the past year, we have removed over 1,070 pythons from the Everglades, including pythons close to 20 feet long,” Kimmel told the Miami Herald. “Myself and the other SFWMD python hunters work tirelessly every week to try and protect the Everglades. I will hunt for over 12 hours a night and stay in the swamp for days at a time.”

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) reports that the Burmese python is an invasive species which negatively impacts native wildlife in and around the Everglades ecosystem in south Florida. The FWC is encouraging the public to help manage this nonnative constrictor.

Pythons can be humanely killed on private lands at any time with landowner permission—no permit or hunting license required—and the FWC encourages people to remove and kill pythons from private lands whenever possible.

Mike says on his Facebook page that he, “specializes in large/dangerous nuisance animal removal and wildlife rescue. (He is a) state contracted invasive wildlife agent. I take pride in my work and my name.”