Python wars: the snake epidemic eating away at Florida

There are tens of thousands of pythons in the Florida wild, attacking animals and damaging ecosystems - and the quest to stop them has become a collective crusade

On a Thursday afternoon in St Petersburg, Florida, Beth Koehler crouches over a cairn terrier named Ginger, trimming intently as fur collects around her feet. On Koehler's arm is a scratch - red, jagged and freshly acquired, though not in the way one might expect of a dog groomer.

"There was no way I could pin the head," Koehler says, referring to the snake that was partly responsible. She had grabbed hold however she could, which made it "pissed": "It decided to coil up and just throw itself at me." Startled, Koehler had fallen backwards, cutting herself on a vine - an injury far preferable to the bite of a Burmese python.