ORLANDO Fla. (Reuters) - The evidence is circumstantial but the case looks strong. Multiple cats missing without a trace, a freshly killed body, and one well-fed, 120-pound Burmese python lurking in the Florida underbrush.
"It's the answer to so many questions," said Pamela Dinola, who lost five of her seven cats.
Pythons are an exotic species and growing nuisance in Florida where they have no natural predator and feed on native wildlife, most notably in the Florida Everglades. Occasionally a snake finds its way into populated areas.
Dinola said she suspected raccoons when her first cat disappeared in November.
"But they kept disappearing over a matter of months," Dinola said.
On Friday, Dinola said she spotted the python wrapped around a neighbour's cat.
An officer familiar with snakes believes the python was let loose by a pet owner well before it reached its current size, a typical scenario. State wildlife officials were looking for the snake's owner, said Frank Sabol, a spokesman for the Port St. Lucie police department.
Meanwhile, police consider the case of the missing cats closed.
"It's more than speculative to say that the python has been (responsible). It's more probable than not," Sabol said.
This is horrible , we got alligators invading the neighbors and now these pythons , not close to me ,but small pets are missing , my concern is a small child .
ReplyDeletePythons do not have natural predators here , animal control will be out in full force as usual .
People gets these exotic pets and just put them out in the wild . It's against the law , but Witchy I am sure you know that being from the south .
Ardis Whittin
Howdy Ardis ,
ReplyDeleteYes it's horrible and people don't care or respect the rights of others . Be careful , pythons are invading neighborhoods looking for food . You are right , animal control will be on top of it . The gulfs states is trained for that and I was told you only have to call once .
Yeah , I d know that ... maybe a fool will flush one down the toilet and he come back and bite him on the a*** Hahahaha!!!
See you later gator