Burmese pythons are not uncommon in southern Florida, they thrive in the Everglades and the region's marshy wetlands. Over the last few years there has been a concerted effort by Florida Fish & Wildlife to reduce the python population because they are invasive and dangerous to people and the ecosystem.
News that a 16-foot python, weighing a whopping 300 pounds, was caught hours away from the Florida Everglades is what really has people worried. Somehow this massive snake ended up Zolfo Springs, an inland area known for grazing land and woods.
Two men (cousins Aaron Brown and William Wilkinson), found the python on their property and were able to capture and kill it. Not knowing exactly what to do with it, the cousins called Dusty Crum, a man known as the "snake hunter," who helped them skin and gut the snake. Once it was opened up, they discovered that the massive female snake carried 100 eggs that would have been laid and hatched in their area.
Crum said, “Hopefully this is a rogue snake and they haven’t migrated this far north. These boys stopped an invasion by eliminating a big breeding snake like that." But given how invasive they are and where the how far from its normal habitat it was found, it seems possible that these massive snakes can adapt to different climates and conditions and move elsewhere in the state where people and animals are not aware or prepared.
Pythons this size can easily take down human beings and large animals. In 2018 a missing woman was found swallowed whole inside the cavity of Burmese python in Indonesia. The disturbing photo is shown below.
Photos: Getty Images
WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT
The python that killed this 54-year old woman was 23-feet long. She was cut out of the belly of the bloated python found in the Indonesian village of Persiapan Lawela on the island of Muna, in June of 2018.
Photo: Getty Images