Florida man goes head to head with five-metre python in terrifying battle
A man who wrangled with a five-metre python has come out bruised and battered, but clearly proud of winning the battle against the serpent “monster.”
Burmese Pythons are considered invasive species in Florida as they eat indigenous animals.
Mr Kimmel says he went in search of “an invasive man eater” on June 7 to Martin County Trapping & Wildlife Rescue, but quickly realised “she wasn’t coming without a fight” after finding one in a swamp.
“I noticed her almost immediately as soon as we crossed paths, I could barely contain my excitement,” he wrote in a heartyFacebook post.
“She definitely was not afraid of me and started to slowly cruise through the vegetation as I carefully walked next to her trying to gauge exactly how large she was because of all the grass and weeds it was hard to tell but I could tell she was an absolute monster.”
Image: Facebook
He wrote she was tangled in vegetation making her capture difficult and described the animal as 68kg of “solid muscle”.
“I knew going for her head first would be the easiest and safest capture method but I couldn’t turn down the chance to grab her by the tail and dance with the devil herself,” he wrote.
“As soon as I grabbed a hold of her I sealed my fate. No turning back now, she was coming for me.
“She immediately started to battle it out, taking strikes and pulling me into some tall grass with her, making it difficult to dodge her strikes. She was able to successfully get a bite on me.”
Mr Kimmel’s arm went to explain he was punctured by her fangs, “piercing an artery and hitting some nerves”.
Despite the damage, the pair continued to battle.
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“After losing about a gallon of blood I was able to tire her out and get her under control,” he wrote.
“I then used a snake bag I had on my waist to tourniquet my arm because I was getting worried about how much blood I was losing, better safe than sorry.
“I then had to drag all 150lbs (68kg) of her alive, working to control my breathing so I didn’t pass out from blood loss and the extreme heat that day, I would have been screwed.”
The snake catcher says once he got the snake back to his boat, he euthanised her.
It hasn’t officially been measured, but Mr Kimmel claims the snake was five-metres long and included a photo of it draped over his shoulders.