The annual Florida Python Challenge began Friday, with hunters heading into the Everglades to track down invasive Burmese pythons in the hopes of winning a share of the $30,000 prize.

The annual 10-day hunt, which began more than a decade ago, is designed to raise public awareness of Florida’s invasive species problems while engaging the public in the discussion about the Everglades, says Sarah Funck, chief of the wildlife impact management division for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

“They are unfortunately a common invasive species in our natural areas in much of South Florida,” Funck said of Burmese pythons. “A big part of that challenge is making sure people understand this issue and that if you have a non-native species that is present in the state for any reason, you shouldn’t release it because it can really harm our environment.”

Over the past decade, the Python competition has made headlines for its incentive nature, its Florida-only nature, and its celebrity participation. This year, more than 600 people registered for the event, two of whom were from Canada and 108 from other states.

During the challenge, hunters will stay in designated areas stretching from western Broward County to the Tamiami Trail in the Big Cypress Wildlife Management Area, including other management areas such as Southern Glades, Holey Land and Rotenberger.

The goal of the contest is to provide an incentive for hunters to remove Burmese pythons from the wild, especially in late summer when python eggs hatch. The contest also aims to educate the public about pythons and the threat they pose to Florida’s ecosystem because they prey on native snakes, can spread disease among native animals and have high levels of mercury that can be dangerous to native animals and human consumption, said Zachary Chejanovski, an interagency python management coordinator for the Florida Wildlife Commission.

“The Python problem is a big problem,” Chejanovski said. “We want to make sure we spread it as widely as possible because we can’t do it alone.”

Each category has its own prizes. $2,500 goes to the person or team that kills the most pythons, $1,500 to the runner-up for most kills, and $1,000 to the one who kills the longest python. The grand prize for most kills in all categories is $10,000.

Each competitor can only win one prize, so if someone finishes high in two categories, they will receive the highest prize and the next qualified hunter will receive the remaining prize.

During the competition, competitors must deliver their humanely killed Burmese pythons to one of the competition’s three inspection stations in South Florida. Hunters can also choose to have the snake carcass returned after the competition is judged if they want to use the skin to make purses, belts or bags.

Michael Huckabee and Jay Kattalikis attended the safety training Friday morning after traveling from Mississippi to compete in the Florida Python Challenge. Kattalikis said this was his first time competing in the state’s python competition, but he wasn’t worried because he and Huckabee are used to “catching alligators” and dealing with copperheads and rattlesnakes.

Kattalikis said he and Huckabee came here on a whim after another friend told him about it, and he gave Huckabee just 15 minutes to get ready before driving to South Florida.

“All I could think was, ‘Holy shit, this is what I’ve been doing my whole life and now there’s a tournament where I’m doing this. I want to do that, too,'” Kattalikis said.

In 2017, the South Florida Water Management District and the state began hiring contractors to manage the invasive python problem year-round. According to the wildlife agency’s website, more than 11,000 pythons have been removed by these contractors through 2023.

In last year’s challenge, 209 pythons were sighted and the grand prize winner was Paul Hobbs, who killed 20 pythons. Also in 2023, the Florida Wildlife Agency and county contractors removed approximately 2,200 pythons.

Amy Siewe, who calls herself a python hunter, won a prize last year for catching a 10-foot-long Burmese python. She will not take part in the challenge this year due to knee surgery, but said she is not a fan of the annual challenge.

Siewe, who used to trap invasive pythons as a government contractor, said she believes the contest’s original intent was to raise awareness of the problem. Now it draws large crowds of hunters who may scare away pythons and possibly kill native snakes they mistake for pythons, such as corn snakes, brown water snakes or water moccasin vipers.

“Pythons are not displaying their normal behavior pattern because there is so much traffic. They come up and then go back into the swamp,” said Siewe. “Personally, I think that’s counterproductive.”

Participants must complete an online training that includes information on how to distinguish Burmese pythons from other snakes, among other things, Funck said. She said there is also an additional optional in-person training that participants can take to properly identify Burmese pythons.

“A big part of our job is educating people on how to identify these pythons and how to capture them safely and humanely,” Funck said.