VERO LAKE ESTATES — An 8-foot-long Burmese python was found and captured Tuesday night, this one weighing between 40 and 50 pounds, officials said.

A resident found the snake, believed to have either escaped from a home or released into the wild by its owner, and called authorities.

The snake is being held at the Humane Society of Vero Beach and Indian River County.

A 2-year-old girl from Oxford, a small town in Sumter County, was found in July asphyxiated by a different Burmese python that also measured 8 feet in length.

Dumped at Everglades National Park and elsewhere by pet owners who wanted to get rid of them, the snakes — which can grow to 20 feet and more than 250 pounds — dine on wading birds, small mammals and anything else they can squeeze to death.

Their numbers have risen steadily, with more than 300 removed from the park in 2008, up from about 250 the previous year, said Skip Snow, a biologist in charge of handling the python threat.

Now they’re extending their range — heading toward the wildlife-rich lands to the north and south of the park. Most of the southern third of the United States — from Virginia through central California — contains a climate and habitat sufficiently similar to the python’s southern Asian homeland to support populations of them.

Lamaur Stancil

Tags: 8-foot, burmese python, captured, humane society, oxford, snake, sumter county, vero lake estates

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