'Super snake' fears on the rise in Florida
5 African rock pythons, which in their homeland are known to eat goats, are seen during a 3-day search in Miami-Dade County. Officials worry that the rock python could breed with the Burmese python. 
By Andy Reid, January 15, 2010 Reporting from Fort Lauderdale, Fla. – Fears of a new “super snake” emerging in the Everglades grew this week during a hunt to track South Florida’s invasive python population. A three-day, state-coordinated hunt that started Tuesday had, by Wednesday, turned up at least five African rock pythons — including a 14-foot-long female — in a targeted area in Miami-Dade County. Those findings add to concerns that the African rock python is a new breeding population in the Everglades and not just the result of a few overgrown pets being released into the wild, according to the South Florida Water Management District. In addition, state environmental officials worry that the rock python could breed with the Burmese python, which already has an established foothold in the Everglades. That could lead to a new “super snake,” said George Horne, the water district’s deputy executive director. In Africa, the rock python eats creatures as large as goats and crocodiles. There have been cases of the snakes killing children. “They are bigger and meaner than the Burmese python. It’s not good news,” said Deborah Drum, deputy director of the district’s restoration sciences department. The concern is that a hybrid python could pose even more risk of large constrictor snakes overwhelming the Everglades — where they thrive without a natural predator. …
