Giant python found in Florida after devouring 76-pound deer

If the 16-foot Burmese python was easy to capture and kill, it might have been because the snake had just consumed a 76-pound deer in the South Florida Everglades. 

Burmese pythons are one of many invasive wildlife species in Florida and officials would like to remove as many as possible.

The unusually large python was discovered Thursday by workers with the South Florida Water Management District.

They contacted officials with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, who captured and killed the snake with a shotgun blast. It had a 44-inch girth where the deer had settled, fully intact.

Scott Hardin, exotic species coordinator for the commission, told the Sun-Sentinel said pythons this large are rare, and downplayed the danger to humans posed by the presence of pythons.

"I would never say the danger is zero," Hardin said. "If a snake that size wrapped you up you'd be in trouble. But snakes that size are extremely rare. The ones brought in here are in the four- to eight-foot range."

The giant python was found in the western portion of Miami-Dade County. Burmese pythons are believed to have gained a foothold because of pet owners who illegally turn the reptiles loose after they become too large or bothersome to be cared for as pets.

-- Image is courtesy of South Florida Water Management District 

Comments

[JAMES ELLER]

DO NOT TOTALLY TAKE THEM AWAY BUT MANAGGE THEM BY LICENSES AND SUCH AS THAT AND DONT GIVE OUT THE LICENSES UNTIL THE INDIVIDUAL WANTING THIS CALIBER OF SNAKE GETS EDUCATED ANT CAN TAKE SOME KING OF TEST LIKE SOMETHING TO PROVE THAT THEY KNOW ABOUT THIS TYPE OF ANIMAL. I HAVE SEVERAL LARGE BREED SNAKES HERE IN GEORGIA AD I LOVE THEM .BUT I AM EDUCATED ABOUT THESE SNAKES AND HAVE HAD THEM LONG ENOUGH TO KNOW AND UNDERSTAND THIS ANIMAL. YOU HAVE TO BE ABLE TO UNDERSTAND THE ANILAM YOU HAVE.WHEN A 15 FT BURM HISSES OR BLOWS AT YOU , YOU NEED TO KNOW WHAT THAT HISS OR LOUD BLOW MEANS.BURMS ARE KNOWN FOR HISSING. BUT HISSING AND AN ALL OUT BLOW AT YOU IS TWO VERY DIFFERENT THINGS. I AS A LARGE BREED SNAKE HANDLER DO BEG PEOPLE THAT EVEN THINK THEY WANT A LARGE BREED SNAKE TO PLEASE LOOK ONLIN AND EDUCATE YOUR SELF BEFORE YOU ATTEMPT TO OWN ONE OF THESE MASSIVE SNAKES.IF ANYONE HS ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS TYPE ANIMAL PLEASE LOOK ME UP ON FACEBOOK AND I WILL DO MY BEST TO HELP YOU IN ANY WAY I CAN. I AM LISTED ON FACEBOOK AS JIM ELLER. ANS THANKS ALOT FOR ALLOWING ME TO POST THIS ABOUT THESE LARGE BUT BEAUTIFUL SNAKES.