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- A restaurant in Everglades City, Florida called Wildman's Pizza, Pasta and Python is offering free pizza to hunters who bring in captured Burmese pythons during the Florida Python Challenge, a ten-day event running from July 10 to July 19.
- The challenge, organized by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the South Florida Water Management District, aims to control the invasive python population that threatens native wildlife such as wood storks and key largo wood rats, and even preys on pets.
- Owner Dustin Crum says the restaurant is likely the first place in the world to accept pythons like currency, and while health rules bar selling python-meat pizza, the snakes' skin, oil, and other parts are used for products like leather goods, creams, and jewelry.
- The initiative has drawn global attention, and over 23,500 pythons have been removed from Florida's natural areas since 2000, with removals rising sharply after a payment program began in 2017.
What to watch next
- How many pythons are captured during the July 10-19 Python Challenge
- Whether the free pizza offer continues beyond the 2026 challenge
- Future results of Florida's paid python removal program
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Named United States · Everglades City · Florida · Dustin Krum · Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission · NBC Miami · South Florida Water Management District · Wildman's Pizza, Pasta and Python
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