16-Foot Python Found in Florida, Everglades Had Eaten Deer

Oct. 27, 2011: the South Florida Water Management District, workers are shown holding a nearly 16-foot long Burmese Python that was captured and killed in Everglades National Park, Florida. (AP2011)

EVERGLADES NATIONAL PARK, Fla. — Officials in the Florida Everglades have captured and killed a 16-foot-long Burmese python that had just eaten an adult deer.

Scott Hardin, exotic species coordinator for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, says workers found the snake on Thursday. The reptile was one of the largest ever found in South Florida.

Hardin says the python had recently consumed a 76-pound female deer that had died. He says it was an important capture to help stop the spread of pythons further north.