16-foot Python Swallows Entire Adult Deer

From: http://blogs.discovery.com/


Eyes Clearly Not Bigger Than Stomach
A huge 16-foot Burmese python slithering through the Florida Everglades proved that her eyes weren't actually bigger than her stomach, by swallowing an intact 76-pound deer. The Everglades National Park wildlife biologists indicate that the python had a girth of 44.1 inches after devouring the adult female deer!

At 15.65 feet, the python isn't the largest on record, according to CNN, but the size of her prey both impresses and concerns state and federal wildlife scientists and land managers trying to control the non-native species.


As a large exotic animal that is not naturally from that area, experts assert that the python has the potential to wreak havoc on the natural Florida wildlife. Discovered by contractors who were spraying exotic vegetation on an island about 20 miles from Everglades National Park, the snake was dispatched with a single shotgun blast to the head, which is apparently protocol for non-native, predatory species.


Another Possible Example of Exotic Pets & Irresponsible Owners?
Officials indicate that they do see pythons on a regular basis and that they've dispatched hundreds of them in the past few years. While some of the snakes may have escaped enclosures after Hurricane Andrew's widespread destruction in 1992, experts assert a more likely cause for the problem is....

that some of these pythons were actually pets who grew bigger than the owner "planned" and they were released into the wild, which according to wildlife officials is the worst thing you can do.
Photo Source: South Florida Water Management District