BIG CYPRESS, FLORIDA — A journalist riding his bike near near the everglades witnessed an unnatural sight that has been becoming increasingly more common — a Burmese python drowning an alligator.
On the morning of Dec. 21, while cycling, journalist Joe Capozzi heard some commotion coming from a swamp up ahead. He hopped off his bike to investigate and spotted a 6-foot alligator, belly up and fighting for its life, as a 15-foot python coiled itself around the gator’s body.
Capozzi wasted no time, grabbing his smartphone to record the intense encounter. He recalls that while the gator would pop up from the water every few minutes, the snake had total control over it, tightening its grip and robbing it of air, until it finally stopped moving. Capozzi says the scene looked like an alligator trapped in a stack of tires underwater. After watching for roughly 10 minutes, a clear winner having emerged, Capozzi continued on his bike ride, and wrote about what he saw two weeks later in a piece for The Palm Beach Post.
Burmese pythons have invaded Florida’s ecosystem over the past decade, a result of irresponsible exotic pet owners and the destruction of a python breeding facility in 1992 caused by Hurricane Andrew. More than 2,000 snakes have been removed from the area, but the snakes continue to breed at a rapid pace.