PALM CITY, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 A resident of the Stuart West community got more than they bargained for when they popped the hood of their vehicle and discovered a ball python curled around the engine.<\/p>\n
The Martin County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) said on Wednesday that Animal Control Officer Mollie Cameron responded to the scene and safely removed the non-venomous snake. The python was then transported to a local wildlife hospital for care and observation.<\/p>\n
Ball pythons<\/a>, native to sub-Saharan Africa, are a popular pet species but are considered non-native in Florida. MCSO reminds the public that releasing exotic animals into the wild can have serious consequences for native wildlife and the local ecosystem.<\/p>\n See also: FIERY PHOTOS: Firefighters work to contain brush fire in Martin County<\/a><\/p>\n The sheriff’s office is asking anyone in the area who is missing a ball python, or has information about how it may have ended up in the vehicle to call 772-220-7000. <\/p>\n This incident serves as a reminder of the importance of responsible pet ownership and the potential ecological risks posed by non-native species.<\/p>\n Find more ways to stay up to date with your latest local news. Sign up for our newsletter<\/a> to get the day’s top headlines delivered right to your inbox. Subscribe to our YouTube channel <\/a>for the biggest stories and can’t miss video.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PALM CITY, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 A resident of the Stuart West community got more than they bargained for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34920,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[171,173,172],"class_list":{"0":"post-34919","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-port-st-lucie","8":"tag-port-st-lucie","9":"tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","10":"tag-port-st-lucie-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34919"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34919\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}