Hunters Vie for $25,000 in Prizes to Protect Florida's Ecosystem The 2025 Florida Python Challenge™ officially began today, with hundreds of registered participants already scouring the Everglades in a crucial effort to remove invasive Burmese pythons.

According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), the American flamingo is one of the largest species of flamingo and averages some 5 feet tall. A survey conducted in 2024, spotted around 100 American flamingos in the wild around the Sunshine State.

Florida Python Challenge begins July 11, bringing hunters to the Everglades to remove invasive Burmese pythons that threaten native wildlife in south Florida's ecosystem.

Detainees are said to go days without showering or getting prescription medicine, and they are only able to speak by phone to lawyers and loved ones.

Archbishop Thomas Wenski criticized the remote location of the detention site called "Alligator Alcatraz" and the rhetoric surrounding it.

A new report says the Everglades support $31.5B in economic value annually and over $1T in ecosystem services over the next 50 years.

"There's a lot of really high-quality habitat in both of these regions of the state." Florida reverses course on critical $200 million project in the Everglades: 'It's very important funding' first appeared on The Cool Down.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization convened last Friday in Paris and decided to keep the designation.