A South Florida Water Management District python removing contractor leads a team of python-hunting veterans in the Florida Everglades as part of his nonprofit Swamp Apes. Searching for invasive Burmese pythons is a rewarding and therapeutic outlet for veterans who struggle with anger and PTSD.
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Editors note: Swamp Apes is a nonprofit that supports veterans by offering nature-based adventures, providing camaraderie while cleaning the environment and connecting with the land. Searching for invasive pythons affords participants peer support as well as a sense of purpose. South Florida Sun Sentinel journalists Uma Raja and Amy Beth Bennett experienced missions with them.
Tom Rahill stands in the glow of truck headlights, donning camo boots and thick duck pants, his gray hair pulled into a ponytail underneath his hat. A patch on his sleeve shows an ape proudly holding a python above its head, near a crescent moon. Darkness envelops the desolate dirt road, the stark silence punctuated only by the rhythmic chirp of crickets and the occasional cry of an owl.
