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.

Florida this week started construction on a migrant detention facility the state is billing as “efficient” and “low-cost” – because Mother Nature will provide much of the security.

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.

One of the largest flocks of flamingos in a decade was recently spotted in the Everglades by avian ecologist and restoration scientist Mark Cook.

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.

As detainees move into Alligator Alcatraz, the criticism continues from people opposed to the detention facility for undocumented immigrants.