Successfully Becoming A Real Estate Agent, This Woman Chooses To Become A Python Hunter

Amy Siewe with the python she caught. (Instagram/thepythonhuntress)

JAKARTA - This woman in the United States is willing to leave her career and change states to become a snake hunter.

Amy Siewe was originally a successful real estate agent. However, his life changed after he caught his first python at Everglades, Florida.

"I was immediately blown away by a snake. So when I found out that there was a python problem in Florida, I went hunting, I caught a nine-foot python (2.75 meters) long, and that's how it is. I was captivated!" he said, as reported by Reuters on June 10.

Within two months, he had sold his venture in Indiana and moved to Florida to become a python hunter.

Now, with more than 600 dead pythons he has captured, he is known as "Python Huntress", one of a handful of women in hundreds of men chasing invasive Burmese pythons in the Everglades wetland ecosystem, Florida.

"This python is about 10 feet (3 meters) long," he said, grappling with the snake he had just caught in a tall knife in the middle of the night.

"Its age may be about three years, and to date it has eaten about 200 of our native animals, including mammals and birds," he explained.

Burmese pythons have been spreading through the Everglades National Park since Hurricane Andrew in 1992 destroyed captivity facilities for pet trafficking, causing about 900 detached snakes.

This python, originating from Southeast Asia, can grow up to 18 feet (5.5 meters) long and have a large appetite, eating local wildlife, including mammals, birds, and even crocodiles.

Everglades is a unique subtropic ecosystem, with the largest sustainable mangrove ecosystem in the Western Hemisphere. This place is home to a variety of unique species, including endangered Florida beetles, American crocodiles, and American crocodiles.

However, the Burmese python does not have a natural predator, so the population of this invasive species swells. Scientists have recorded a dramatic decline in shoppers, oposums, jungle cats and rabbits in the region.

"It is estimated that there are 500,000 pythons out there," said Siewe.

Pythons, hunted at night, cannot legally be transported alive, so they were killed on the spot after being captured and measured.

As soon as he got home, Siewe skinned a dead snake, then asked for his skin to be beaten professionally to be used as a bag, wallet, bracelet and other items.

It takes on average 12 hours to catch one snake.

"So, this method is not very effective," he admitted.

"We'll always have pythons in Florida. What we're trying to do is find ways to reduce their number. Hunting right now is the most effective way we've got."