Large python found by cops on US-1 in Pinecrest <\/p>\n
PINECREST, Fla. \u2014 A Pinecrest police officer and a Miami-Dade Sheriff\u2019s deputy had their hands full early Thursday morning with a 14-foot Burmese python.<\/p>\n
The police department called the catch a rare traffic stop. Video posted on social media captured the officers handling the dead snake.<\/p>\n
Todd Hardwick is a critter catcher. He\u2019s been doing it for three decades.<\/p>\n
\u201cFinding pythons now outside of the Everglades is no longer a surprise and it\u2019s the new reality,\u201d said Hardwick. \u201cWe\u2019ve got a lot of wildlife in South Florida. Some of it belongs here, some of it doesn\u2019t. You just need to be cautious.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pinecrest police said construction workers spotted the snake on U.S. 1 at around 2 a.m.<\/p>\n
Hardwick says that was a perfect time. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s not much traffic at two in the morning, things they want to eat are out there,\u201d he said. \u201cRats are moving, any type of possums or raccoons are out there at that time of night, so that was actually the perfect time to find a python.\u201d<\/p>\n
And why is a python slithering near a major roadway like U.S. 1? Hardwick says food could be the only motive.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re running out of food in the Everglades,\u201d he said. \u201cThe population that counts on rabbits, raccoons and possums are almost at the bottom. There\u2019s nothing left out there to eat, so the pythons are traveling to where the food is and the food is to the west coast — Naples, Marco Island, or east in Dade, in Broward County and Monroe County.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hardwick added that based on how lean the snake appeared to be in the video, it looks like it came from the wild as opposed to being someone\u2019s pet. <\/p>\n
\ud83c\udfe0 News From Your Neighborhood<\/p>\n
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