Mike Kimmel didn't hesitate to intervene during the fight between two mighty reptiles.
Which would win in a fight between two of nature’s most terrifying reptiles?
This Florida man decided he didn’t want to find out when he intervened, rescuing an alligator from the grasp of a python.
Mike Kimmel, a state-contracted python hunter, said he was on a routine survey of the Everglades when he spotted an alligator struggling against the grip of a python.
"When I reversed, it was easy to see that it was wrapped around something — I did think it was a gator so I knew every second counts," he told InsideEdition.com. "I rushed down there, I was able to locate the head of the python."
He could then be seen in a video posted to his company’s Facebook page grabbing the head of the python with one hand, grabbing the alligator’s head with the other and separating the two.
“As I brought them up to the levee, I could feel the python start to unravel from the gator,” Kimmel recalled. “I kind of dropped the gator and let it go, and from that point, we scooted the gator off into the water."
He then catches and bags the python, which he said he later euthanized.
“I know what to look out for," he said. "I know how to handle ‘em so, it was just a, more of a matter of not losing the python and getting that gator loose in time where it would be able to survive."
Kimmel explained that the area has been encountering a python infestation over the last 30 years.
"Basically, this stemmed from Hurricane Andrew," he said. "It caused damage to an exotic reptile breeding facility and hundreds of breeding pairs of pythons were released down in the Everglades […] and the Everglades is really just a perfect kind of ecosystem for them.
"On top of that, they have a huge, huge animal population that has no defense against their hunting style," Kimmel added.
He began his company, Martin County Trapping and Wildlife Rescue, wanting to give the other animals a fighting chance.
“I’ve seen firsthand that there are no raccoons out there, there’s barely any birds, there’s hardly any deer, no hogs — everything’s been eaten up,” Kimmel explained. "I feel the main cause is the pythons."
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