Another use for e-bikes: python hunting in the Florida Everglades
Kimberly Clark is passionate about removing invasive Burmese pythons from the Florida Everglades, and she seems to have discovered a silent and effective means of pursuit: an e-bike.
Clark on Friday shared an image of a roughly 10-foot python draped around an e-bike and began her Instagram description: “This gives new meaning to riding double! We had plenty of room for this extra passenger on our Haoqi Eagle eBike!”
As Clark noted, Burmese pythons pose an extreme threat to native wildlife and have become so abundant that about the best Florida can hope for is to keep their numbers in check and minimize their spread.
View this post on Instagram
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) encourages citizens to become involved in hunting efforts and states openly on its website: “Members of the public may capture and humanely kill nonnative reptiles like Burmese pythons.”
The snakes must be killed where they’re encountered because live transport presents a spread risk and is against the law. “There is no bag limit,” the FWC added.
Clark pointed out that the python on her e-bike was small compared to some of the snakes roaming the everglades. Burmese pythons can measure nearly 20 feet.
Last January, she encountered a much fatter python measuring 15-plus feet crossing a road in the Everglades.
In June 2022, biologists captured what they said was the heaviest python they’d encountered. The pregnant snake – containing 122 eggs – weighed 215 pounds and measured 18 feet.
The python had consumed an entire white-tailed deer as its final meal.
