A professional snake hunter has shocked social media users after pulling a 17ft snake from a national park.
Kevin Pavlidis was called out to the wetlands after a call that an enormous snake was causing a threat to the wildlife.
The 27-year-old went in search of the Burmese python, which he found in the tall, wet grass of the Everglades National Park in Florida, US.
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Kevin shared a clip of this to his Instagram, (@snakeaholic ), where he has over 164,000 followers, and gathered 2 million views.
“We remove pythons to save the lives of our native wildlife,” Kevin, from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, told Need To Know.
“I’ve been handling snakes my whole life so I’m very comfortable with it.
“This was a 17ft python we removed from the Everglades.
“For 20 minutes she didn’t stop trying to bite us, but eventually she got tired.”
He captioned the social media post: “Feisty 17fter trying to bite me in the face! These snakes are SO powerful and strong!
“If you let your guard down, they will make you pay for it! No room for error in my line of work!
“Feeling their power always makes me think about the native animals that have almost no defence against these invasive predators.
“Sad to think about the native animals that were eaten to build a Python of this size.
“It’s all about saving the native wildlife.”
In the video, Kevin is seen sitting on the wet ground as he holds the huge snake.
She opens her mouth wide as he teasingly taps her on the nose, also holding her securely by the neck.
The clip has more than 19,300 likes, as well as thousands of comments from fans.
Mimi said: “This is a huge snake omg.”
Simon added: “Bro be like – Normal day in Florida.”
Another commented: “I’m so entertained by the bravery.”
“Lordy, the mouth on that thing it’s huge,” Jan wrote.
“Goodness gracious,” said Dariya.
“Be very careful, I’m terrified, they have an impressive force,” warned Abu.
Kevin added: “It’s an inherently dangerous job.
“I’ve taken my fair share of bites and injuries. It hurts, but I’ve never had any major ones.”
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