Sen. Bill Nelson joins Fla. snake hunt

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DAVIE, Fla., Jan. 11 (UPI) -- U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., is one of the hundreds of people signed up to hunt pythons in the Everglades, a spokesman said.

Nelson, 70, who has been at the forefront of the state's struggle against the invasive Burmese pythons, will set out Jan. 17 with a rancher in Davie to hunt the pythons with machetes and pistols, the Tampa Bay (Fla.) Times reported Friday.

"He's had a hand in drawing attention to the problem and it has, in fact, proven to be a very serious problem," spokesman Dan McLaughlin said. "Bill doesn't mind the heat, the mosquitoes, the alligators and the poisonous snakes. It puts him in touch with natural Florida."

The python hunt begins Saturday and offers cash prizes for catching the largest python and the most snakes.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said 670 people were registered for the python hunt as of Thursday.