Python hunters must humanely kill snakes: How Florida has cracked down in contests through the years

A hunter shooting a gun to kill a python? Forbidden.

What about freezing the snake to kill it? Prohibited.

A python run over by a car? Not allowed.

These types of killings have happened before, though rarely. So how is someone supposed to properly kill a snake in the Python Challenge, the state-led contest that sends hunters scouring the Everglades for them each year? Details about the deaths of nearly 1,000 hunted snakes come to light in records that document the state’s enforcement efforts.