Holy Crap: 17+ Foot Python Caught In Everglades

From the Orlando Sentinel: A monster Burmese python captured in the Everglades has broken the state size record, stretching 17 feet, 7 inches, its belly bursting with 87 eggs, the University of Florida announced Monday.

The snake was brought to the Florida Museum of Natural History last Friday for examination. After the scientists are done with it, the snake will be mounted for exhibition at the museum for five years and then returned for exhibition to Everglades National Park....

“A 17.5-foot snake could eat anything it wants,” Krysko said. “By learning what this animal has been eating and its reproductive status, it will hopefully give us insight into how to potentially manage other wild Burmese pythons in the future.

This particular snake had been under surveillance in the wild for more than a month. Two contract employees for theU.S. Geological Surveycaptured it March 6 in some bushes near the Daniel Beard Center, a research station in the eastern part of the park, said Kristen Hart, research ecologist for the USGS.

They took it alive and brought it to the USGS office in Davie, where they fitted it with radio transmitters and other devices and returned it to the Everglades.

Like a captured spy who becomes a double agent, the snake now worked for the U.S. government. It became what scientists call a “Judas snake,” used by scientists to locate other snakes as they congregated for mating. After following the snake’s movements for several weeks, keeping it under surveillance by air and ground, they recaptured the snake April 19 and took it again to their offices in Davie. But this was the end of the snake’s use to them, so it was euthanized using isoflurane gas.  http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2012-08-13/news/sfl-recordbreaking-python-found-in-everglades-with-87-eggs-20120813_1_burmese-pythons-exotic-pet-industry-kenneth-krysko

My question is this: It took just 2 people to catch the snake?