Giant Burmese Python Removed From Key Largo Yard

KEY LARGO (CBSMiami) – We can't end the year without another giant Burmese python capture.

Earlier this week, officers from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission were called to a home in Key Largo after some residents spotted a large Burmese python slithering through their yard.

FWC caught the python without incident.

It measured over 9-feet long.

Burmese pythons are an invasive species in and around the Everglades.  Scientists say they have eliminated 99-percent of the native mammals in the Everglades, decimating food sources for native predators such as panthers and alligators. Native populations of bobcats, opossums, raccoons, foxes and rabbits have been devastated.

Burmese pythons are not protected in Florida except by anti-cruelty law. Pythons can be killed on private property with landowner permission and can also be killed year-round and without a permit on 22 public lands in south Florida. The FWC encourages people to humanely kill wild caught pythons whenever possible.