MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. — Ron Magill was quick to defend a man he felt was being treated unfairly after he went out of his way to capture and surrender a python, an invasive species.

Yatir Nitzany said he was hiking at Shark Valley in the heart of the Everglades National Park when he saw an opportunity to help protect the environment.

“I saw one crawling across the trail,” Nitzany said. “There were children around.”

Nitzany said he captured the constrictor and contacted park rangers. A video shows that as he held it, a tour guide driving a tramp praised him in front of visitors.

“It had a bulge in its belly,” Nitzany said about the python. “The upper part of its body, indicating it just killed something, and I couldn’t have it on my conscience just to leave it there and just let it go.”

The super predators, native to tropical regions in Africa, Asia, and Australia, have devastated Everglades wildlife since the exotic pet trade’s introduction.

Knowing he was doing the right thing, Nitzany said he didn’t expect a park ranger, who also thanked him for the catch, to then hand him a $180 citation.

“If I could have done things over again, I would have probably killed it and thrown it in the bushes,” Nitzany said.

Nitzany and Magill fought the citation, based on the federal Lacey Act and a state law that required prior authorization for capturing a python in a park.

“My goal now is to do whatever I can to change this law. To make sure there is a caveat in this law, so that people like [Nitzany] are not punished for doing the right thing in the environment,” Magill said.

The case against Nitzany was dismissed on Friday before his court hearing. Magill was glad, but it shouldn’t have happened.

“At the end of the day, for me, it’s common sense. Unfortunately, it’s not too common anymore,” Magill said.

Copyright 2026 by WPLG Local10.com - All rights reserved.