As many as 150,000 nonnative snakes are believed to be crawling through the Everglades, resulting in a ban on importation and interstate transportation of the species.
Jan. 17, 2012, Everglades, Florida
Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, center, and Sen. Bill NelsonD-Fla., left, look at a 13-foot python held by the National Park ServiceSupervisor Ranger in the Florida Everglades. Salazar announced the banon importation and interstate transportation of four giant snakes thathave been threatening the Everglades.Alan Diaz / AP
Snake Hunter
Dave Leivman shows off a 9-foot python he recently captured inEverglades, Florida on Jan. 17, 2012. The state licenses hunters tohelp eradicate the invasive species. Wildlife officials say that tens ofthousands of pythons—at minimum -- inhabit South Florida. Exotic petowners release many snakes when they grow to large to be kept.Alan Diaz / AP
Training
Burmese pythons are placed back into a box during a demonstration at aFlorida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission nonnative snake hunttraining session in Miami, Florida on Feb. 22, 2010. Trainers showprospective hunters how to identify, stalk, capture and remove theinvasive species.Joe Raedle / Getty Images
Out of Control
Water management workers hold a 16-foot Burmese Python captured andkilled in Everglades National Park Florida on Oct. 27, 2011. The Pythonhad recently consumed a 76-lb. adult female deer.South Florida Water Management District / AP
Python Proliferation
The National Academy of Science report released Jan. 30, 2012 indicatesthe increase of pythons coincides with a sharp decline of mammals in thepark. Here, Joseph Wasilewski, wildlife biologist captures a wild pythonon the side of the Tamiami Trail road that cuts through the FloridaEverglades on Sept. 16, 2009 near Miami, Florida.Joe Raedle / Getty Images
A Heavy Life
Florida researchers hold a 162-pound Burmese python captured inEverglades National Park, Florida shortly after the 15-foot snake ate asix-foot American alligator on Nov. 14, 2009.Michael R. Rochford / University of Florida / AP
Death Grip
In this 2009 photograph, A Burmese Python is wrapped around an Americanalligator in Everglades National Park, Florida.Lori Oberhofer / National Park Service / AP
More Than It Could Chew
The carcass of a six-foot American alligator is shown protruding fromthe mid-section of a 13-foot Burmese python on Sept. 26, 2005 inEverglades National Park, Florida. The snake swallowed the alligator,resulting in the deaths of both animals.Everglades National Park / AP
Tragedy
Law enforcement officials remove a 12-foot albino Burmese python fromthe home where it strangled to death 2-year-old Shaunnia Hare in Oxford,Florida on July 1, 2009. The owners discovered the snake missing fromits aquarium and found it near the girl, who had bite marks on her head.Tom Benitez / MCT / Orlando Sentinel
