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NEWSDAY (New York, New York) 20 April 06 Hungry python safe in Suffolk (Wil Cruz)
She caused a scare in Lindenhurst on Tuesday, where she almost ate a duck while cavorting in Firemen's Park. Then, 7-foot-long Burmese python put quite a fight while resisting capture at the hands of the Suffolk County police.
On Wednesday, the white unnamed python ate a rodent, its first meal since trying to feast unsuccessfully on duck meat.
Today, she is resting at a safe, undisclosed location in Suffolk, officials at the Suffolk County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said.
"That's be good for about three weeks," said SPCA Officer Raymond Galoppi, of the python's meal. "She's a healthy animal."
The snake will be evaluated this week by a herpetologist and will likely be adopted by a licensed, out-of-state wildlife rehabilitator.
The Burmese snake -- which normally makes its home in Thailand, Vietnam and Burma -- was dumped at Firemen's Park at 340 South Wellwood Avenue on Tuesday afternoon, according to the SPCA. Children noticed it and notified the police. It was unclear who dumped the snake there, officials said.
Burmese pythons usually feast on rodents. They can grow as long as 17 to 18-feet-long and up to 200 pounds.
Before First Precinct police officers responded on Tuesday, though, the python tried to grab a snack. "It grabbed a duck out of the pond," said Roy Gross, chief at SPCA. "It was starving."
But three police officers secured the snake before it could eat the duck. SPCA arrived and took it to a wildlife facility, police said.
Gross said the python, which is young at two to four years old, would have struggled to survive on its own.
"It would not have made it," he said of the 80-pound python. "It would have died in a day or two."
New York State law prohibits private owners to possess Burmese pythons without special permits.
Though the snake was not poisonous, Gross said the hungry python could have constricted someone or something and killed it. Gross -- who said snake sightings happen a few times per year -- said the best part of the story was that no one was hurt, and that the duck and the snake were doing well.
"It was a nice ending to it," he said.
Hungry python safe in Suffolk

Man, it just irritates me to no end when idiots decide that they don't want their animal anymore so they just release it somewhere. The people that do this are the ones that give the responsible keepers a bad rap. I just wish people would think things through a bit better before deciding to purchase a giant snake such as a burm or retic, instead they fall in love with an 18" hatchling and never give much of a thought about what it will be in a year or two or they are just going for the "cool" factor. Believe me, the "cool" factor wears off real quick and what your left with is a growing snake that becomes more and more of a challenge to house properly. People must realize that housing and maintaining a giant snake is a large commitment that will last for many years.

How many burms are 7feet, weigh 80 pounds and are capable of strangling someone? Stupid reporting is just as bad if not worse then stupid owners!

how about the fool who is quoted as saying that 'the one rat
will be enough food for three weeks?' let's just hope that he is not the prime caretaker. what a moron!

You may think not but if you do think about it. 80 pounds thats pretty big and all it takes is one coil.
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0.2 Rotts
1.0 Super Tiger
0.1 Green Burm
0.1 Ball Python
0.1 Red Tail
0.1 Blood Python
1.0 Green Ananconda
1.0 Emerald Tree Boa

80 lbs?...at only 7'?...i dont think so...a 7 footer should only weigh about 30-40 lbs. tops...i want to see that snake...it would have to be extremly obese...and i agree about the one rat every three weeks because that snake obviously was eating way more than that...

i am with you, mavericksdad. i have seen many, many burms in my day-and a monstrous 7 footer would be pushing 50 pounds. 80 pounds is ludicrous-and probably not even possible. i think that this is just the obvious 'big fish' story.

rottenweiler, i cant believe that you believed this foolish 'news' article.

hurt someone. Not that its true.
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0.2 Rotts
1.0 Super Tiger
0.1 Green Burm
0.1 Ball Python
0.1 Red Tail
0.1 Blood Python
1.0 Green Ananconda
1.0 Emerald Tree Boa

I Think anybody that claims a 7ft burm could weigh anything near 80 pounds or even 40 pounds has no business writing newspaper articles unless they work for the National Inquirer. Anybody that claims to have one that size and weight should be arrested for animal abuse.

I just went to the link posted by Wes and they have a picture of the snake there. It looks to be just about the right weight for it's size. If I had to guess, I would say someone told the reporter it weighed "eighteen" pounds and he heard "eighty", a fairly common error (although you would think he could look at the picture and tell it didn't make sense).

In my occasional obsessive manner, I had to go search for other versions of this story and found that most of them say 80 pounds, a couple say 60 pounds, one has a picture of 2 cops holding a normal burm with catch poles an another shows an albino burm in a bag. Who knows what the real story is... (neither look thick enough to be much over 20 pounds though).

...would be grossly obese and to lethargic to move let alone hurt someone...