A college kid in Florida caught a record-breaking 19-foot-long Burmese Python in Big Cyprus National Preserve.
This thing is ginormous:
Truly a monster.
It was caught on Monday by 22-year-old Jake Waleri, who brought the python to the Conservancy of Southwest Florida in his hometown of Naples, the conservancy said. Officials there measured the snake at 19 feet and 125 pounds, and said it set a new world record for length.
A video of Waleri's record-breaking catch on Instagram shows the python lunging at Waleri as he pulls the snake onto the road by its tail. Waleri and the snake wrestled on the ground until others joined in to help peel the snake off the hunter.
The dude WRESTLED a 19-foot python he dragged onto the road.
Jake is a king! The video is insane.
Here it is as covered by local Tampa news:
This kid is doing the Lord's work ridding Florida of this invasive species.
Florida doesn't need these giant monster snakes.
Burmese pythons are one of the largest snakes on the planet. They're also an invasive species running rampant through much of southern Florida. They're wreaking havoc on the state's native animal populations because the pythons have no natural predators in Florida, which is why Waleri spends his nights hunting these monstrous predators.
"It's awesome to be able to make an impact on South Florida's environment," he said in the news release. "We love this ecosystem and try to preserve it as much as possible."
18ft 9in was the previous record, and this giant critter beat it by three inches.
They have no natural predators in Florida, so these giant snakes will grow and grow and grow with nothing to stop them from taking over, except people like Jake.
Maybe he'll break the record again on his next hunt.
But I kind of hope not.