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Florida men catch 15-foot long, 144-pound python in the Everglades

EVERGLADES, FL (WSVN) – Two south Florida men managed to catch a massive 15-foot long, 144-pound python in the Everglades.

Nicholas Banos and trapping partner Leonardo Sanchez made their phenomenal find while just driving around.

“Second I get out of the car and I look over, it’s this big python stretched there where the trees meet the water,” Banos told WSVN-TV. “And when we jumped at it, [Sanchez] goes and grabs it by the tail. The second he starts to grab it, the snake starts to b-line into the trees. So, he tells me, ‘Go for the head, Go for the head!’”

After several minutes of wrestling the snake, they managed to put the python into a massive bag and into the back of their van.

The two men says they go after snakes like these as part of Florida’s “Python Challenge,” meant to help protect the everglades.

“We don’t hunt for sport,” said Banos. “We’re not hunting to kill. We hunt to remove. Catch and remove. But having to kill it was a little rough for us. We’ve never really had to do that before. So, it was satisfying but it was also a feeling of…a little bit of heartbreak.”

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