Insanely Long Burmese Python Found In Florida (Photos)
We, humans, fear many animals because of evolution. Our instinct kicks in when we see a spider or a snake. Especially snake!
But even though many snakes are harmless to humans, our fear of them remains strong. Fear of snakes is one of the most common phobias, yet many people have never seen a snake in person. But when you see the size of this particular snake that has been found in Florida, I am sure you will be afraid even more than before!
On Friday, snake hunter Jason Leon found and killed a 17-foot, roughly 130-pound Burmese python in Florida. Weighing 59.8 kilograms (132 pounds), it’s thought this female could be a record-breaker for the longest snake caught by the South Florida Water Management District’s (SFWMD) Python Elimination Program.
Leon said: “That snake could pretty much kill any full-grown man. If that snake was alive right now, it would probably take like three of us to be able to control that snake.”
“Burmese pythons possess an insatiable appetite,” the district writes on its website. “They can not only kill Florida native prey species and pose a threat to humans, but also rob panthers, birds of prey, alligators and Bobcats of a primary food source.”
Sssssseventeen Feet!
Python hunter Jason Leon set a record for the SFWMD Python Elimination Program with this 17-foot-1-inch Burmese python that he brought to the District's Homestead Field Station today. pic.twitter.com/p6iNnTex6H
— South Florida Water Management District (@SFWMD) December 4, 2017
Burmese pythons are originally from Asia, but they’ve been spreading across Florida in recent years after being accidentally or purposefully released into the wild by humans.
“I cannot say enough about the tremendous work of these dedicated professionals to rid the Everglades of this destructive python threat,” Dan O’Keefe, chairman of the governing board, said in a news release earlier this year. “Eliminating one snake from the Everglades is much more than a single kill. It’s the prevention of 40 to 50 more snakes by destroying a large female carrying 40 to 50 eggs, and it’s the countless number of native Florida animals spared from the jaws of these killing machines.”
Leon’s catch was the biggest creature eliminated so far in the district’s python program, which as of September had taken out nearly 600 pythons. In 2013, he set the record for longest python ever hunted in the state when he killed a snake that was more than 18 feet. It was wrapped around his leg and he killed it using only a knife.
This is why I REFUSE to camp in a chickie hut in the Everglades…
Are you terrified of snakes? Scroll down to leave a comment below!
H/T Newsweek
Natalie Dagenhardt is an American conservative writer who writes for Right Journalism! Natalie has described herself as a polemicist who likes to “stir up the pot,” and does not “pretend to be impartial or balanced, as broadcasters do,” drawing criticism from the left, and sometimes from the right. As a passionate journalist, she works relentlessly to uncover the corruption happening in Washington. She is a “constitutional conservative”.
So the 17 foot record braking snake from 2017 is longer than the over
18 foot snake from 2013 that is in the same article ? ? ? Is that what
you are telling me ? ? ? I guess less is more.