Florida pizza shop offers free pies for python catches

A pizza shop in Everglades City, Florida, has launched a unique promotion: bring in a Burmese python, and you'll receive a free large pizza. Dustin Crum, the owner, calls himself an "Everglades entrepreneur" and conceived the idea after being inspired by the "Florida Python Challenge."

The "Florida Python Challenge" offers a $10,000 prize for the most pythons caught in the Everglades. Burmese pythons, native to Southeast Asia, have become a significant threat to Florida's native wildlife by preying on them and competing for habitat. However, their large size, with some reaching 5 meters and weighing up to 90 kilograms, makes them difficult to handle and dispose of.

Crum stated that he plans to utilize the pythons by rendering their fat into oils, creams, and soaps for skincare, and using their bones for accessories. He noted that local children often catch snakes but don't know how to deal with them, and they are hungry and want pizza. Despite these individual efforts, the Burmese python population in Florida is estimated to be as high as 300,000, indicating that private initiatives alone are insufficient to resolve the ecological crisis.

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Especially the local kids, they catch the snake but they don't know what to do with it. The kids are hungry and they want pizza.