Burmese Python Nearly 19 Feet Long Sets Record for Longest Ever Captured in Florida
Posted on May 20, 2013
A Burmese python measuring 18 feet and 8 inches was captured in a rural area in South Florida. The python is the longest ever captured in Florida. It beats the previous record of 17 feet, 7 inches by over a foot. The python was a 128-pound female. Scientists at the University of Florida are pictured lying on the floor next to the dead python.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission says in a release that Jason Leon saw the snake when he and his friends were driving around at night. Leon stop the car, grabbed the snake and dragged it out of the brush. The python then started to wrap itself around Leon's leg so Leon and his friends killed the large snake with a knife.
Kristen Sommers, Exotic Species Coordination Section Leader for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), said in a statement, "Jason Leon's nighttime sighting and capture of a Burmese python of more than 18 feet in length is a notable accomplishment that set a Florida record. The FWC is grateful to him both for safely removing such a large Burmese python and for reporting its capture."
Florida asks residents to report sightings of exotic species. Florida also invited people to hunt and kill pythons in the Everglades earlier this year.