The staff at the Okeechobee Veterinary Hospital routinely handles large animals. Along with household pets, they treat hogs, horses, cows and ornery bulls.
But the massive critter that showed up Thursday stunned everyone. It turned out to be one of the biggest Burmese pythons found yet, roaming free in Florida.
The constrictor stretched 17 feet, 2 inches and measured 26 inches around at its thickest point. It weighed in at a staggering 207 pounds – four pounds more than the Miami Dolphins’ brawny No. 1 draft pick, Vontae Davis.
“We see huge gators all the time being in Okeechobee but you would never expect to see a snake this size,” said Patty Harvey, a technician at the hospital, which is just north of Lake Okeechobee.
Florida wildlife managers pointed to the find as the latest, and largest, evidence that the exotic snake, which has settled into the Everglades, is spreading across the state.
The snake was spotted Thursday afternoon by Corey Surls, 11, whose uncle, veterinarian Jim Harvey, owns the hospital.
The boy spends a lot of time on the grounds and overheard construction workers, who are building an addition to the hospital, talk about a large snake they’d seen in a ditch, Patty Harvey said. “He runs over there and looks into the ditch and, lo and behold.”
He alerted his uncle. The veterinarian killed the snake with head shots from a .22 caliber rifle, Patty Harvey said. Though it’s illegal to shoot them in state wildlife management areas or federal lands, the FWC says pythons can be legally shot on private property.
Afterward, the staffposed for what Patty Harvey called a “once-in-a-lifetime” photo. It took eight of them to hold it.
