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Pythons a growing menace

See larger David Rodriguez, left, and Jim Wheeler stand in front of the Iron Rhino Saloon with a headless python they killed Thursday night on U.S. 41 East at Collier-Seminole State Park.

Tony Hamm

David Rodriguez, left, and Jim Wheeler stand in front of the Iron Rhino Saloon with a headless python they killed Thursday night on U.S. 41 East at Collier-Seminole State Park.

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  • Florida Forest Ranger Wilbur Chaney poses with a 15-foot Burmese Python caught by himself and fellow ranger Jean Bernard Tarrete in Picayune State Forest.
  • In this Thursday, Oct. 27, 2011 photo provided by the South Florida Water Management District, a nearly 16-foot long Burmese Python is shown, that was captured and killed in Everglades National Park, Fla. The Python had recently consumed a 76-lb. adult female deer. The reptile was one of the largest ever found in South Florida. (AP Photo/South Florida Water Management District)
  • William DeShazer/Staff Ron Bergeron, with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation, handles a 13 foot and 85 pound Burmese python during the kickoff of the 2013 Python Challenge at the University of Florida Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center on Saturday Jan. 12, 2013. Almost 800 people have signed up to hunt Burmese pythons on public lands in Florida.
  • A 17-foot python caught in Okeechobee County
  • A 17-foot python caught in Okeechobee County
  • Florida Speaker of the House Larry Cretul, right, and Florida Museum of Natural History herpetologist Kenneth Krysko, left, examine a 12-foot-long necropsied Burmese python Thursday (July 23, 2009) at Dickinson Hall on the University of Florida campus. The python, an invasive species in Florida, was a female preparing to lay 23 eggs when it was captured in the Everglades.
  • Firefighters from Southern Manatee County Fire Rescue help Justin Matthews, right, of Matthews Wildlife Rescue, deposit a captured 14 foot long Burmese python, which he pulled from a drainage pipe in Bradenton, Fla., on July 25. It took the wildlife rescue expert about an hour and a half to pull the reptile out of the drain.
  • Snake hunter Shawn Heflick captured a python on the first day hunting of the snakes was permitted by the state.
  • Zoo director David Tetzlaff retrieves Kaa, a reticulated python, from a holding cage during the Naples Zoo's Serpents: Fangs & Fiction show on Wednesday, July, 8, 2009. U.S. Senator Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) presented a bill Wednesday that would classify pythons as an injurious animal and stop the importation of the snakes between states. David Albers/Staff
  • Youngsters participating in Camp Mackle, have their hands full of a Burmese Python, brought to camp by the Critter Man. From left, Mia Witthoff, Alyssa Kirstein, Olivia DeSantis, Nicholas Smithem, Lucas Hodgon, Zachary Gremel, Sophia Shane and Morgan Maile.
  • The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission approved a draft rule that would reclassify reptiles of concern, such as this Burmese python, as conditional species, meaning future personal possession of these animals as pets would no longer be allowed. (FWC photo)
  • A 14ft., 150 pound male African Rock Python discovered in January, is the largest ever found in the Florida Everglades.
  • David Rodriquez, standing at the Iron Rhino Saloon, holds the remains of a 9-foot python he and two other men killed Thursday night on U.S. 41 at Collier-Seminole State Park
  • David Rodriguez, left, and Jim Wheeler stand in front of the Iron Rhino Saloon with a headless python they killed Thursday night on U.S. 41 East at Collier-Seminole State Park.
  • Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission Cpt. Jayson Horadam, center, stands on a noose holding a nine-foot three-inch python that was found in the yard of a Marco Island resident on Thursday, March 11, 2010. This is the first report of a python on Marco Island officials say, but according to Horadam, they have found three in the last two weeks in the surrounding areas, including Rookery Bay. 'This is just the tip of the iceberg,' Horadam said. An estimated more than 100,000 pythons are spread throughout the area into the Everglades. Greg Kahn/Staff
  • A 9-foot Burmese Python was discovered on Marco Island at 831 Buttonwood Court on Thursday, March 11, 2010. The exotic snake was captured by officials with Florida Wildlife Comission and taken back to the FWC facility on Shell Island Road. Greg Kahn/Staff
  • Jeff Carter, DEP at Rookery Bay, stretches out an 11-foot Burmese Python caught at Rookery Bay after it came out to sun itself.
  • A 12-foot Burmese python that was captured in the backyard of a home slithers on the ground at its new home at the A.D. Barnes Park in October 2005, in south Miami. The snake is the prime suspect in the disappearance of a 15-pound cat that lived at the residence. Robert Sullivan/AFP/ Getty Images
  • Law enforcement officials remove a pet Burmese python, measuring more than 8 feet long, from the home where it killed 2-year-old Shaunnia Hare in Oxford, Fla. on Wednesday, July 1, 2009. Charles Jason Darnell, the snake's owner and the boyfriend of Shaunnia's mother, discovered the snake missing from its terrarium and went to the girl's room, where he found it on the girl and bite marks on her head, Caruthers said. Darnell, 32, stabbed the snake until he was able to pry the child away. (AP Photo/Orlando Sentinel, Tom Benitez
  • David Rodriguez, left, and Jim Wheeler stand in front of the Iron Rhino Saloon with a headless python they killed Thursday night on U.S. 41 East at Collier-Seminole State Park.
  • Jeff Carter (left), Stewardship Coordinator for Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, along with resource biologist Steve Bertone and facilities manager Carl Marchand, measure an 11-foot python found Thursday in part of the reserve behind the Marco Island Executive Airport.
  • Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission hold a nine-foot three-inch python that was found in the yard of a Marco Island resident on Thursday, March 11, 2010. This is the first report of a python on Marco Island officials say, but according to FWC Cpt. Jayson Horadam, they have found three in the last two weeks in the surrounding areas, including Rookery Bay. 'This is just the tip of the iceberg,' Horadam said. An estimated more than 100,000 pythons are spread throughout the area into the Everglades. Greg Kahn/Staff
  • Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission Cpt. Jayson Horadam, center, stands on a noose holding a nine-foot three-inch python that was found in the yard of a Marco Island resident on Thursday, March 11, 2010. This is the first report of a python on Marco Island officials say, but according to Horadam, they have found three in the last two weeks in the surrounding areas, including Rookery Bay. 'This is just the tip of the iceberg,' Horadam said. An estimated more than 100,000 pythons are spread throughout the area into the Everglades. Greg Kahn/Staff
  • Landscapers with Sandcastle Landscape Management look on in awe as Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission trappers stretch out a nine-foot python that the pair caught sticking out of a hole in the foundation of a lanai on Buttonwood Court, Marco Island at about noon on Thursday.
  • Marco Island Police Department officers assist an FWC officer in measuring the length of a python discovered sticking out of a hole in a lanai's foundation on Thursday. It measured about 9 feet.
  • Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission officer Marc Shea, center, pulls a nine-foot three-inch python that was found in the yard of a Marco Island resident out of a bag to measure on Thursday, March 11, 2010. This is the first report of a python on Marco Island officials say, but according to FWC Cpt. Jayson Horadam, they have found three in the last two weeks in the surrounding areas, including Rookery Bay. 'This is just the tip of the iceberg,' Horadam said. An estimated more than 100,000 pythons are spread throughout the area into the Everglades. Greg Kahn/Staff
  • Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers found this albino Burmese python at the home of Bradley Dean. FWC photo
  • This adult albino Burmese python was offered for sale. FWC photo
  • In this Thursday, Oct. 27, 2011 photo provided by the South Florida Water Management District, workers are shown holding a nearly 16-foot long Burmese Python that was captured and killed in Everglades National Park, Fla. The Python had recently consumed a 76-lb. adult female deer. The reptile was one of the largest ever found in South Florida. (AP Photo/South Florida Water Management District)
  • Florida Forest Service rangers Jean Bernard Tarrete, left, Dave Gravitt, center, and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission biologist Ross Scott stretch out a 15-foot, 3-inch Burmese Python caught by Tarrete and another ranger on March 21, 2012 in Picayune State Forest.
  • Jean Bernard Tarrete, a Forest ranger with the Florida Forest Service, kneels behind a 15-foot Burmese Python he and co-worker Wilbur Chaney caught in Picayune State Forest on the Northwest corner of Lynch Blvd. and Miller Canal in Collier County.
  • William DeShazer/Staff A 13 foot and 85 pound Burmese python lays out in the open for the public to see during the kickoff of the 2013 Python Challenge at the University of Florida Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center on Saturday Jan. 12, 2013. Almost 800 people have signed up to hunt Burmese pythons on public lands in Florida.
  • William DeShazer/Staff A 13 foot and 85 pound Burmese python lays out in the open for the public to see during the kickoff of the 2013 Python Challenge at the University of Florida Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center on Saturday Jan. 12, 2013. Almost 800 people have signed up to hunt Burmese pythons on public lands in Florida.
  • William DeShazer/Staff Ron Bergeron, with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation, addresses the press and others in attendance during the kickoff of the 2013 Python Challenge at the University of Florida Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center on Saturday Jan. 12, 2013. Almost 800 people have signed up to hunt Burmese pythons on public lands in Florida.
  • William DeShazer/Staff Members of the media listen in as a press conference gets underway during the kickoff of the 2013 Python Challenge at the University of Florida Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center on Saturday Jan. 12, 2013. Almost 800 people have signed up to hunt Burmese pythons on public lands in Florida.
  • Ron Bergeron, with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation, handles a Burmese python during the kickoff of the 2013 Python Challenge at the University of Florida Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center on Saturday Jan. 12, 2013. Almost 800 people have signed up to hunt Burmese pythons on public lands in Florida.
  • William DeShazer/Staff A 13 foot and 85 pound Burmese python lays out in the open for the public to see during the kickoff of the 2013 Python Challenge at the University of Florida Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center on Saturday Jan. 12, 2013. Almost 800 people have signed up to hunt Burmese pythons on public lands in Florida.
  • William DeShazer/Staff People jockey to get an up close photo of a 13 foot and 85 pound Burmese python while handler Jeff Fobb, with the Nature Conservancy, keeps it at bay during the kickoff of the 2013 Python Challenge at the University of Florida Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center on Saturday Jan. 12, 2013. Almost 800 people have signed up to hunt Burmese pythons on public lands in Florida.

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