Florida deputies visiting Collier County have a ‘ssstory’ to tell

NAPLES, Fla. – Jacksonville Sheriff’s deputies helping out after Hurricane Ian in Collier County responded to a call they don’t usually get at home.

On Wednesday, deputies with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and the Collier County Sheriff’s Office were called to a Naples neighborhood after a resident said they saw a Burmese python.

When deputies arrived, they found the 14-foot-long snake slithering between two homes. One of the visiting cowboy hat wearing deputies humanely euthanized the snake.

Last week, the annual Florida Python Challenge came to a close. Matthew Concepcion, a 19-year-old from Palmetto Bay wrangled 28 snakes to beat out nearly 1,000 other trappers in the challenge.

Nearly 1,000 participants from 32 states, Canada and Latvia came together to remove hundreds of Burmese pythons from South Florida and 231 invasive Burmese pythons were caught and removed.