Deer-eating python captured, killed in Florida Everglades

[Yeo]

In this Thursday, Oct. 27, 2011 photo provided by the South Florida Water Management District, workers are shown holding a nearly 16-foot long Burmese Python that was captured and killed in Everglades National Park, Fla. The Python had recently consumed a 76-lb. adult female deer. The reptile was one of the largest ever found in South Florida.



EVERGLADES NATIONAL PARK, Fla. — Officials in the Florida Everglades have captured and killed a 16-foot-long Burmese python that had just eaten an adult deer.

Scott Hardin, exotic species coordinator for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, said workers found the snake on Thursday. The reptile was one of the largest ever found in South Florida.

Hardin said the python had recently consumed a 76-pound female deer that had died. He said it was an important capture to help stop the spread of pythons further north.

The python was killed with a shotgun blast.

Skip Snow, a biologist and python specialist at Everglades National Park, who conducted the snake necropsy, said the snake had a girth of 44 inches with the deer inside.

"This is clearly an extreme event,” he told the Sun-Sentinel. “It shows you they can eat huge things."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45083208/ns ... qtmZ7JU2uI

[homeboy]

Hate snakes.....good job.

[rollingstock]

People releasing their exotic pets have caused them to become an invasive species.
Can just imagine what they will do to the eco-system in that area after a sustained period.

[shogun]

beautiful animal, shame they had to kill it.

[VexXx Dogg]

soon fs, snakeskin belt, shoe, purse and wallet

[wagonrunner]

beautiful animal, shame they had to kill it.

yup

[De Dragon]

IBpios/streetBeast...........

[eurogirl]

I hope my snake doh get THT hungry

[nervewrecker]

beautiful animal, shame they had to kill it.

yup

X2

[BrotherHood]

Dat could eat ah big man,

[sliderz1]

so they couldnt relocate?

[BrotherHood]

^^^^ notsureifsrs

[De Dragon]

I hope my snake doh get THT hungry

My snake always hungry

[BrotherHood]

I hope my snake doh get THT hungry

My snake always hungry

Yea daz wa i sayin.

[rfari]

beautiful animal, shame they had to kill it.

true. would have been a nice idea to relocate to a zoo

[Fuzz Master]

relocate to a zoo? these things are rampant in the everglades now. waiting to see when they are to set a hunting season for them. they are more a nuisance because they are not supposed to be here in the first place.

[rfari]

relocate to a zoo? these things are rampant in the everglades now. waiting to see when they are to set a hunting season for them. they are more a nuisance because they are not supposed to be here in the first place.

they said that its one of the largest found in south florida. that should at least account for something. i assuming tht would be bigger than the ones held in captivity

[DevilZ]

it go happen here too...let eurogirl snake get too big...that getting let go in de bush somewhere...allyuh mofos mad yes...kill dem ting...if the snake did swallow a lil child allyuh woulda want it in d zoo still?

[sharkman121]

it go happen here too...let eurogirl snake get too big...that getting let go in de bush somewhere...allyuh mofos mad yes...kill dem ting...if the snake did swallow a lil child allyuh woulda want it in d zoo still?

it have chirren running around in d everglades?

[DevilZ]

hoss ppl have houses out there...ever been to the everglades...rednecks live in the bush man

[eurogirl]

it go happen here too...let eurogirl snake get too big...that getting let go in de bush somewhere...allyuh mofos mad yes...kill dem ting...if the snake did swallow a lil child allyuh woulda want it in d zoo still?

lolol dude my snake name is bob and is a python that lives in my stomach eh .. my mother tell me the worms evolve in my stomach into a python during semster .. tuners who on my facebook does see me bitching abt bob ..

[nervewrecker]

relocate to a zoo? these things are rampant in the everglades now. waiting to see when they are to set a hunting season for them. they are more a nuisance because they are not supposed to be here in the first place.

& how did they get there? they fly, teleport, fell out the sky?
shoot the people who bring them there, I wouldnt doubt is them dotish rednecks self.

[shake d livin wake d dead]

after he ate that there it would have been very easy to catch,cuz it wasn't going any where far,according to natgeo,when they find them,zoos usually take them...

[Yodins]

it have chirren running around in d everglades?

1douen

[Yodins]

beautiful animal, shame they had to kill it.

ent.

[d spike]

I say get rid of all invasive species, for they only end up damaging the native environment - Burmese pythons, West-African snails, Guyanese, Nigerians...

[nervewrecker]

I say get rid of all invasive species, for they only end up damaging the native environment - Burmese pythons, West-African snails, Guyanese, Nigerians...

if the bagonanians start thinking like that you know what gonna take place with us?

[psykomorf]

From http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/5956739/A-plague-of-Burmese-pythons-in-the-Everglades.html

"Anywhere between 20,000 and 150,000 are now estimated to be on the loose there. While, individual releases of unwanted pets contribute to the numbers, most are thought to be the descendants of baby pythons inadvertently freed when Hurricane Andrew ripped through the region in 1992.

The category 5 winds flattened the town of Homestead, including hatcheries and pet dealers where the new-borns were incubated in small plastic food storage cups and bowls in exposed areas. The babies are thought to have been blown into the neighbouring Everglades where survivors started breeding. Most pythons caught or found dead there in recent years had very similar DNA, bolstering the theory. "

This highlights the risk (folly?) of breeding animals that are dangerous and non-native purely for the pet industry.

Also may affect the predator/prey balance somewhat.

[pioneer]

relocate to a zoo? these things are rampant in the everglades now. waiting to see when they are to set a hunting season for them. they are more a nuisance because they are not supposed to be here in the first place.

Seeing Florida was built on reclaimed land, who supposed to be where exactly?

[sharkman121]

relocate to a zoo? these things are rampant in the everglades now. waiting to see when they are to set a hunting season for them. they are more a nuisance because they are not supposed to be here in the first place.

Seeing Florida was built on reclaimed land, who supposed to be where exactly?

Exactly, the more humans encroach on animal territory, then killing out the species den bawling oh what if my child was there.

The everglades are known for having snakes, crocs, aligators etc etc.. leave it that way and let US take caution..not them.