For Florida wildlife officials, the Python Challenge 2013 can't start soon enough.
In the latest evidence that the invasive species is taking over local environs, a 17-foot python slithered into a family picnic area in the Everglades, startling a family from Arkansas on Wednesday.
Watch the video above.
Park rangers arrived at the scene, and shot and killed the giant Burmese python.
Next month, the FWC is hosting a contest to see which individual and which permit-holder can bag the most snakes as well as the longest.
The Arkansas tourists could have gone home with the challenge prize of $1,500; the picnic python was almost the longest one ever caught. The record-breaker is currently held by one that measured at 17 feet 7 inches.