Good News: Giant Pythons to Overrun South

Looking at the upside, they're not blaming global warming. On the downside, it's still a man-made epidemic.

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 the Burmese python can thrive.

In fact, the big beasts, which are not poisonous and rarely attack humans, could live happily in the entire southern third of the country, from Southern California to Texas and the Lower Mississippi Valley and up the Eastern Seaboard to Chesapeake Bay.

All it would take would be enough pet releases in various locations to create a breeding population.

A few years ago, captains Al Cruz and Ernie Jillson of the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue department pulled up in front of an apartment building.

A crowd gathered on the grass was watching a 10-foot Burmese python slowly squeeze a large Muscovy duck to death. But the lanky juvenile snake then struggled to get the 12-pound duck down its throat.

Cruz and Jillson, members of Miami-Dade Rescue's specialized Venom 1 unit, wrestled the snake under control as feathers flew. They carted the python away, not to be euthanized but to make sure it ended up where it wouldn't kill native animals or pets.

"Lately it's getting worse," Jillson said. "We're going to find even more of these animals."

In 2004, wildlife researchers found a gory tableau in the Everglades — a 13-foot python had swallowed a six-foot alligator whole. Then the snake's abdomen burst open, killing it and leaving both animals forever conjoined in reptilian mutually assured destruction.

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