Florida Bobcat Kills 13-Foot Python for the First Time on Record. It’s a Sign of Nature ‘Fighting Back’ Against the Invasive Snakes

Burmese pythons are wreaking havoc on the Everglades ecosystem, but some native animals have been known to prey on the enormous reptiles

Sarah Kuta - Daily Correspondent

June 3, 2025

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Burmese pythons in Florida have been known to swallow large animals, like deer and alligators. Now, however, wildlife biologists have discovered evidence that suggests at least one Everglades creature is fighting back against the invasive snakes.

Scientists were following a male snake named Loki that had been affixed with a radio tracker, reports Bill Kearney for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, which broke the story. During the breeding season, “scout” snakes like Loki help lead biologists to large female snakes, which they can then humanely euthanize. Female Burmese pythons can lay as many as 100 eggs each spring.

So, as they followed the signal coming from Loki’s tracker, they expected to find the 13-foot-long snake canoodling with a fertile female. But when they arrived at Loki’s location near the city of Naples, they were shocked to discover his decapitated body instead.

Someone—or something—had chewed off Loki’s head and neck, then buried it under some nearby pine needles. They suspected either a Florida panther or a bobcat had killed the 52-pound behemoth, but they weren’t sure. So, they called in David Shindle, a wild cat expert with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, reports Live Science’s Skyler Ware.

Shindle set up a trail camera near Loki’s body to see if the killer would return to finish its meal. Sure enough, the next day, the camera recorded an adult bobcat slinking back to the site.

The incident marks the first time a bobcat has been documented killing and eating a python in Florida, reports Chad Gillis for the Fort Myers News-Press.

Native to Southeast Asia, Burmese pythons first arrived in America in the 1990s and early 2000s as part of the exotic pet trade. But as the snakes grew and grew, some pet owners felt they could no longer keep them—and released the creatures into the wild. Others simply escaped.

With few natural predators, the snakes have multiplied in the Everglades. They’ve decimated local animal populations, gobbling up many of the region’s rabbits, foxes, opossums and raccoons.

Scientists are still trying to understand the dynamics between invasive Burmese pythons and native predator species in the Everglades. Pythons have been known to eat bobcats—biologists have found the cats’ claws inside the snakes while conducting necropsies. But the new discovery suggests the big cats are more than capable of handling the large snakes, and they probably see the reptiles as potential meals.

“A 25-pound cat killed and cached a 52-pound python? That’s a win for the home team,” says Ian Bartoszek, a wildlife biologist with the nonprofit Conservancy of Southwest Florida who found Loki’s remains, to Gulf Coast News’ Ryan Arbogast. “We all tend to like animals that punch above their weight class. Here was a native animal pushing back against an invasive apex predator.”

In this particular case, biologists suspect the bobcat probably took advantage of a cold snap that had immobilized Loki. Cold-blooded creatures like snakes tend to become sluggish when temperatures drop. And since Loki was out prowling around for females, he was located far from his burrow, which could have warmed him.

Similarly, researchers recently discovered the remains of another male scout snake they suspect was killed by a black bear during a period of chilly weather, per Live Science. Alligators, other snakes and some birds of prey have also been known to eat Burmese pythons, especially when the snakes are young and small.

And, in June 2021, a trail camera captured a bobcat raiding a python nest and eating the eggs.

“There’s a bit of a pattern emerging that—and you’d expect as much—over time, the ecosystem is rebalancing itself. It’s fighting back,” Bartoszek tells Live Science. “These native predators are recognizing Burmese pythons as a new food source and are able to take advantage of some of their vulnerabilities.”

Meanwhile, wildlife biologists in Florida are continuing their fight against the invasive snakes, which are decimating native species. Since November 2024, Bartoszek’s team alone has culled 6,500 pounds worth of Burmese pythons from the wilderness, per the Fort Myers News-Press.

Members of the public are encouraged to help, too. This year’s annual Florida Python Challenge, for example, will take place over ten days in July. During that time, hunters are invited to kill and remove as many Burmese pythons as possible from South Florida.

Year-round, hunters on private land are allowed to humanely euthanize the snakes without a permit, so long as they have the landowner’s permission. They also have blanket permission to humanely kill Burmese pythons on specific public lands managed by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Anyone who sees a Burmese python is encouraged to call the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s exotic species hotline.

“We need an army of observers,” Bartoszek tells the Fort Myers News-Press.

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Sarah Kuta is a writer and editor based in Longmont, Colorado. She covers history, science, travel, food and beverage, sustainability, economics and other topics.