Pythons beware — Florida’s new hunters are on the prowl

Oscar Gomez has been many things: a firefighter, a paramedic, a husband, a dad, even a “Swamp Ape.” But this week, he joined the history books.

Gomez, 37, became one of Florida’s first-ever government-paid python hunters.

Over the next two months, the team of 25 hunters will track pythons as part of a $175,000 pilot project organized by the South Florida Water Management District to test the theory that well-managed, skilled hunters may make a dent in what has so far been a runaway population of invasive snakes. Gomez, a Kendall resident who also volunteers for the Swamp Ape team tracking pythons for the National Park Service in Everglades National Park and has a day job trapping...Read More HERE

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/environment/article141843224.html#storylink=cpy