Free Republic

OXFORD, Fla. -- A two-year-old girl was strangled by a python at her family's home in Oxford. It is unknown whether the snake was a pet and how the child came in contact with the animal. Pythons can kill by wrapping themselves around a human. Whit Gibbons, a professor of ecology at the University of Georgia, told the Associated Press that "A human is just another prey item to a python -- especially a small human. "A 20-foot python, if it grabbed one of us, would bite us and then within just, instantly, seconds, it would be wrapped all the...

Gainseville, Fla.,---- Burmese pythons are multiplying rapidly in the Everglades and moving north in Florida, a University of Florida researcher says. Frank Mazzoti said the pythons can live anywhere alligators can, which would include all of Florida and swamp areas in Georgia and Louisiana, Science Daily reported. "People might argue the ultimate boundaries, but there's no part of this state that you can point at and say that pythons couldn't live here," he said. "We really need to be addressing the spread of these pythons. They're capable of surviving anywhere in Florida, they're capable of incredible movement -- and in...

2 flights canceled, but reptile expert fails to find non-venomous creaturesFour baby pythons escaped from a container aboard a passenger plane in Australia, leading to a search that forced the cancellation of two flights, the airline said Thursday. Twelve non-venomous Smitten pythons were being transported Tuesday on a flight from Alice Springs to Melbourne in the plane's cargo area in a bag inside a plastic foam box with air holes. When the flight landed, it was discovered that four snakes had escaped from the package, a Qantas spokeswoman said in a statement. A reptile expert searched for the 6-inch-long snakes...

A GUEST at a Dutch hotel found a live, 2.5 metre python in the toilet, alerting authorities who arrested four people for illegally trading in rare animals, it was reported today. In yesterday's incident the snake is believed to have slithered up the drain from a room below, where authorities discovered about 30 exotic animals, ANP reported, quoting the police. The animals included snakes, geckos, frogs, salamanders and a baby crocodile.

Bridgeport police say they arrested a city man after he ordered his pet to attack two officers. Lucky for them that 9-foot-long pythons aren't very obedient. Rodriguez and his pet were both taken away: Rodriguez to jail on a $10,000 bond, and the albino python ...

Burmese Python Giant pythons capable of swallowing a dog and even an alligator are rapidly making south Florida their home, potentially threatening other southeastern states, according to a new study Giant pythons capable of swallowing a dog and even an alligator are rapidly making south Florida their home, potentially threatening other southeastern states, a study said. "Pythons are likely to colonize anywhere alligators live, including north Florida, Georgia and Louisiana," said Frank Mazzotti, University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences professor, in his two-year study. The pythons thriving in Florida are mostly Burmese pythons from Myanmar that were...

Giant pythons capable of swallowing a dog and even an alligator are rapidly making south Florida their home, potentially threatening other southeastern states, a study said. "Pythons are likely to colonize anywhere alligators live, including north Florida, Georgia and Louisiana," said Frank Mazzotti, University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences professor, in his two-year study. The pythons thriving in Florida are mostly Burmese pythons from Myanmar that were brought over as pets and then turned loose in the wild. From 2002-2005, 201 of the beasts were caught by state authorities, but in the last two years the number...

Giant Pythons Could Spread Quickly Across South Monday , May 12, 2008 By Katie Tweed As if killer bees and kudzu weren't enough, the southern United States may soon have another invasive species to contend with — giant Burmese pythons capable of swallowing deer and alligators whole. Approximately 30,000 of the big snakes, which can reach 30 feet and 200 pounds, already live wild in Florida's Everglades, thanks to thick-headed pet owners who've released them into the swamps when they've grown too large to keep at home. But now the U.S. Geological Survey says Florida is not the only place...

Burmese pythons are particularly popular for about $40 wholesale or just under $100 in a pet store, at about the size of a ruler. You feed a little one mice, and then rats, and then as it continues to grow in size and appetite, you offer up chickens and rabbits, the experts say. You watch your snakeling graduate in about three years to a length of 10 or 12 feet, or longer. Ultimately it can reach 20 feet, and the heavyweights tip the scales at about 300 pounds, and live to about 25 years. Their defacatory production is renowned. And...

EVERGLADES NATIONAL PARK, Fla. - "SNAKE!" Hearing this shout, Skip Snow slammed on the brakes. When the off-roader plowed to a halt, he and his partner, Lori Oberhofer, leaped out and took off running toward two snakes, actually — a pair of 10-foot Burmese pythons lying on a levee, sunning themselves. After slipping, sliding and tumbling down a rocky embankment, Snow, a wildlife biologist, grabbed one of the creatures by the tail. The python, Oberhofer says, did not care much for that. "It made a sound like Darth Vader breathing," she says, "and then its head swung around and I...

June 14, 2006 -- With hurricane season underway, and alligators on the rampage, and sharks looking for lunch, does Florida really need Burmese pythons? No way, says wildlife ecologist Frank Mazzotti of the University of Florida in Gainesville. But these non-native snakes have found a home in Everglades National Park, and their numbers are growing dramatically. Although elusive by nature, these giant snakes have been seen doing battle with alligators, climbing trees fast enough to catch nesting chicks and swallowing animals as large as wood storks.

EVERGLADES NATIONAL PARK, Florida (Reuters) - The man leading efforts to eradicate giant Burmese python snakes from Everglades National Park sounds almost fearful, and certainly not optimistic, when he talks about the chances of wiping out an invasive species he calls "the enemy." That is partly because Skip Snow, a 54-year-old veteran wildlife biologist with the U.S. National Park Service, says he doesn't know how many of the slithery monsters are in the swampy Florida park. "It could be literally thousands," Snow told Reuters. "It could be a number I don't want to know. It could be scary." It's scary...

<p>TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Florida's newest problem is roughly the circumference of a telephone pole. It has no toes. It snacks on rabbits. It's the Burmese python. And in South Florida, the problem is growing in number and in feet.</p> <p>Click on Any Deal and Check Them Out Today! *Fares listed may not include all taxes, charges and government fees. More information. © 2006 Travelzoo Inc.</p>

Florida's newest problem is roughly the circumference of a telephone pole. It has no toes. It snacks on rabbits. It's the Burmese python. And in South Florida, the problem is growing in number and in feet. "Last year, we caught 95 pythons," said Skip Snow, a biologist with Florida Everglades National Park. That's not counting the 13-footer that exploded after trying to eat an alligator, or two others that got loose and ate a Siamese cat and a turkey. To keep the problem from sliding further out of control, state Rep. Ralph Poppell, R-Titusville, wants to add Burmese pythons to...

(For fans of Monty Python's Flying Circus) The AP* has uncovered startling new details on the death of Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat following an assiduous investigation. The AP* recently obtained highly classified documents from an as-yet unidentified member of the CIA*. Those documents revealed that Arafat was literally scared to death while lying in hospital when a giant hedgehog peered into his private room’s window. Witnesses, who wish to remain anonymous, have identified the enormous rodent as Spiny Norman, the long-time nemesis of Britain’s notorious arch-criminal, Dinsdale Piranha. The CIA* operative, who previously worked for the UK’s MI5* was...

"Making a film is essentially about two things: belief and momentum"-- Terry Gilliam Lost In La Mancha may be the first "un-making of" documentary. In a genre that exists to hype films before their release, Lost In La Mancha presents an unexpected twist: it is the story of a film that does not exist. Instead of a sanitised glimpse behind the scenes, Lost In La Mancha offers a unique, in-depth look at the harsher realities of filmmaking. With drama that ranges from personal conflicts to epic storms, this is a record of a film disintegrating. In September 2000, when the...