Posted by:
laurarfl
at Sat Sep 12 08:23:25 2009 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by laurarfl ]
FWC Agents seized a 400-pound, 18-foot python in Orange County early Friday evening.
Wildlife agents have been turning a critical eye on snake owners ever since a python killed a Sumter County toddler this summer.
Agents took the massive Apopka python from a home along Section Drive because her cage had no lock. The owner is out of state and in the process of moving.
The owner's brother was out helping agents deal with the massive snake Friday evening. From head to tail it is 18 feet and weighs about 400 pounds. At its fattest point, it measures 30 inches around.
Florida Fish and Wildlife officers responded to the scene after they received a complaint from a neighbor about the reptile.
Agents' first concern was that the owner didn't have permit, but the major concern was the cage didn't have a lock. Agents said the snake could have easily escaped.
"That snake is the one of the biggest I've ever scene. I moved here a couple of years ago and little girl Ester came by and said, 'Come by, see my snake, see my snake.' One day I came by. I was amazed at size of it," neighbor Vincent Paul told Eyewitness News.
The 17-year-old female snake, named Delilah, will be taken to a reptile farm in Bushnell until they can figure out what to do with her. There's a good chance the snake will end up at a zoo or reptile sanctuary.
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Then there's the 400 pound python story - laurarfl, Sat Sep 12 08:23:25 2009