18-Foot-Long Burmese Python Weighing 133 Pounds Caught in Florida Everglades
— -- A massive female Burmese python -- 18 feet 3 inches long and 133 pounds heavy -- was recently discovered and caught in the Everglades National Park in Florida, according to U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) officials.
The "big gal" is not a record-breaker, though she's only three inches shy of the longest python documented in Florida, USGS deputy public affairs officer Catherine Puckett told ABC News today.
The giant snake, which is an invasive species, was found along Shark Valley, a tram road in the Everglades, by a permitted python researcher who regularly works in the national park, USGS Chief of Biological Services Tylan Dean told ABC News.
"It was humanely euthanized in accordance with our standard protocol," he said. "Prior to euthanasia, we conducted training with some of the NPS (National Park Service) and USGS interns who work on invasive species control projects, including python removal, to help them gain confidence and experience handling large snakes, and the photo was taken during that training."
He added that the "best news about this event is that this snake has been removed from the wild, which helps protect the diverse wildlife we have in Everglades National Park."
A necropsy of the python confirmed the snake was a female that had not reproduced this season and that its stomach was empty, Dean said, explaining that there were no unusual findings.
"We expect to occasionally encounter large pythons in this size range as we continue python removal efforts, though most pythons that we encounter are smaller," he said.
