17-foot python killed near Okeechobee hospital had lurked along area canal for years
July 31st, 2009 by Jason Schultz
It takes eight members of an animal hospital's staff to hold the python, caught on Wednesday. (Courtesy of Okeechobee Veterinary Hospital.)
OKEECHOBEE — It wasn’t quite the Sasquatch or the Loch Ness Monster, but a veterinarian this week killed a beast that had become something of a legend around the city.
“He’s been sighted by residents many times for the last couple of years,” Jennifer Van Buren said of the 17-foot-2-inch Burmese python that was killed Thursday behind the Okeechobee Veterinary Hospital, just outside the city.
The snake measured 26 inches in circumference and weighed 200 pounds when its carcass was pulled out of a canal behind the animal hospital, the state Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission reported.
A hospital veterinarian, identified by commission officials as Jim Harvey, shot the python.
Van Buren, an office manager at the hospital, said the canal runs through the city. Residents of several neighborhoods along the canal had long reported seeing the giant python slithering through their back yards, she said.
Wildlife commission spokeswoman Gabriella Ferraro said the snake was spotted earlier in the week on the roughly 20-acre property owned by the animal hospital and a wildlife official had gone out to search for it with no success.
Van Buren said that when the snake was spotted again Thursday, it was in the canal only a few feet from a fenced area where dogs are kept and an open barn for sick horses and foals.
“It wouldn’t have taken anything for him to come through the fence and have lunch,” she said.
Pythons, which are not native to Florida, have gained notoriety recently after the conservation commission launched a permit program allowing hunters to catch and kill the serpents in state-managed sections of the Everglades.
Ferraro said permitted hunters have killed six snakes. The state is not keeping track of how many have been killed on private property, she said. The python hunting program continues until Oct. 31.
Van Buren said she hates to see any animal killed, but in a case like this it was necessary.
“They are becoming a nuisance in the state of Florida,” she said.
Tags: Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Okeechobee, Okeechobee Veterinary Hospital, python
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July 31st, 2009 at 11:03 pm
The Snake Wasn’t Bothering Anyone, It Had Been Living There For Years With No Problems, And This Guy Shoots The Snake? He Should Be Arrested Life Is Life, The Snake Was Swimming Minding Its Own Business..
July 31st, 2009 at 11:13 pm
I think these snakes have to go, who’s pet has been missing? I am not a fan of snakes, but who would want to wander in Florida’s natural habitat and be attacked by a snake that shoud not be here in the first place. RIP snakes, sorry you have to go!
August 1st, 2009 at 12:16 am
These man made intrusions have to go!
August 1st, 2009 at 1:16 am
Keith, either you didn’t pay attention to where the snake was or you really don’t care about other peoples pets. The snake was near cages where dogs are kept & near a barn where sick horses & baby horses stay… in other words, it had it’s choice of dog or foal(baby horse) for lunch. Who knows, as large as the snake was it might have even been able to eat a pony or small horse. Admittedly the snake would only be acting naturally… Yet how would you feel about getting a call from your vet that your dog or your horse was killed - strangled & eaten - by a huge snake? That vet had a duty to protect the animals in his care, he made the right decision. Another thing to think about, if a snake that size could kill & eat a 30+ lb animal, it is just as capable of eating a 30+ lb human… in other words a young child. To a hungry snake, we are just another source of food - maybe too big to eat, maybe just the right size.
August 1st, 2009 at 8:47 am
I agree this snake was a danger, a man made danger, but still a danger that had to be dealt with. But animal hospital workers smiling in a photo with a dead animal is the most bizarre thing I have ever seen. To be in that profession and show such glee in an animal having to be killed due to man’s bad acts is really quite sick. If one of them in that photo was a relative of mine, I would be visiting them this morning with a nice smack on the side of the head.
August 1st, 2009 at 9:07 am
Allow anyone to kill these Monsters with firearms anytime
August 1st, 2009 at 10:57 am
In the late 1980’s when the woods were being cleared where the Chevy dealer on Lake Worth Rd in Greenacres was going to be built, I was driving down the road around midnight, it wasn’t very well lit in those years, and at the last minute i saw a giant snake stretched across my lane travel. I ran right over it, i felt my tires go up like i was running over a tree limb. I turned around and went back, the snake was gone, no sign of blood or guts on road. This was near the east end of where the chevy dealer would be, there is a small canal there. I figured the snake slithered into the canal. A few weeks later up on Forest Hill Blvd near the same canal, a giant snake was captured after several pet cats had gone missing. The news reports said it appeared to have tire tracks from a previous injury on him that didn’t do any damage. When I had told people at work the day after my encounter, I was accused of seeing things. I don’t recall the variety of snake they mentioned it was, just some variety of constrictor is the best I can recall.
August 1st, 2009 at 11:52 am
I cound not agree with Sandy more. The vets had an obligation to protect the animals that were placed in their care. The python was a threat. Common sense can lead one to the only the action they took. If any child would be in a position of danger by anything, the adult should protect that child by removing the threat or the child from the threat. The other birds and animals by nature that are native to our Everglades deserve the same degree of protection from threats that man has caused.
August 1st, 2009 at 5:01 pm
To Keith,
You would rather the NATURAL wildlife in the everglades disappear due to a foreign snake that was left to go wild and reproduce.
August 2nd, 2009 at 1:43 pm
Keith,
Hey buddy, you catch’em and hold’em while I put the lead to’em.
Unfortunately, these animals are the result of a bunch of nature loving idiots that thought they could just keep’em at home and be admired as a friend to animals. Not! These idiots are the real problem. The snakes are just victims of stupidity. We have to rid the area of them or loose what is natural in S.F. Strong laws that are strickly inforced should stop future importation of these animals.
Meanwhile, get’em out!
August 3rd, 2009 at 1:23 pm
It’s the navel gazers and tree huggers that get my dander up!! A snake this big has to be eliminated! Gosh Keith!! Do ya think ya can imagine what a snake like that is capable of doing to an 9 year old kid with a cane pole or don’t you read National Geographic?
August 3rd, 2009 at 5:16 pm
Keith Watkins,
Are you a Dimmer-crat?
August 6th, 2009 at 12:33 pm
I AM A ANIMAL LOVER, TREE HUGGER ARE WHATEVER, BUT I DO AGREE THE ANIMAL SHOULD HAVE BEEN KILLED TO PROTECT THE OTHER ANIMALS.
August 6th, 2009 at 9:17 pm
This snake would eat your child. A foal would be nothing for a snake that large to take down. They deserve to live but are not native and need to be controlled. If people own dangerous exotic pets that they can not safely handle then there would be no problem. It isn’t the snakes fault it is people. We need to take responsibility for our mistakes and as a veterinary assistant I know the veterinarian did the right thing.
August 16th, 2009 at 3:45 pm
put him in captivity.. he didnt harm anyone
what if someone did that to you.