This has been covered in much greater detail in South Florida papers, in fact its the number 1 story in the Miami Herald. The media is all over this and the end result is unlikely to be good for the herp community.
I tried to post this earlier in the news form but it didn't go up:
Posted on Mon, Oct. 10, 2005
MIAMI GARDENS
Python devours family's house cat
A missing Siamese cat apparently was the snake's last meal
BY CARLI TEPROFF AND LUISA YANEZ
cteproff@herald.com
Like any cat, Frances, a 1-year-old Siamese named after the hurricane, had a simple daily routine.
He slept, ate and enjoyed hunting lizards in the woods behind his owner's home.
Two days ago, Frances vanished.
His whereabouts possibly were revealed Sunday. A snake expert says Frances is the bulge inside a 12-foot-long Burmese python that trapped and swallowed the 15-pound cat whole, just feet from its backyard in Miami Gardens.
''We've been looking for him,'' a distraught Elidia Rodriguez, 66, said of her cat.
The snake was captured and taken to a nature preserve.
This marks the second time this month that a python in Miami-Dade has tangled with another animal with deadly results. Earlier, a 13-foot python had a run-in with an American alligator in Everglades National Park, and neither animal survived.
Why all the aggressive and free-moving pythons all of a sudden?
Capt. Al Cruz of the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue antivenin unit said Sunday's case can likely be blamed on the recent rains.
''They are looking for dry land,'' said Cruz, who explained that climate changes affect pythons' life patterns.
Many pythons end up in the wild after being abandoned by their owners once they grow too big to handle; others are escapees.
How Frances, a gift to Rodriguez after last year's Hurricane Frances, apparently ended up in the python's grip no one saw.
But a missing animal and a bulge in the gut of a nearby snake makes for an easy equation.
A cat would have been no match for the python, much like last month's alligator.
Cruz said most pythons are made of pure muscle and are fierce predators. He said the strength of the nonvenomous python can kill a human.
Pythons strangle their prey before they eat it, Cruz said. They then dislocate their jaw to swallow it.
''A python's jaw is like a rubber band,'' he said. In this case, he estimated the python's girth at about 15 inches.
The cat might have walked right into the snake's striking zone, Cruz said.
''Unfortunately, it had no chance of surviving,'' he said.
Rodriguez, who lives in the 20900 block of Northwest 39th Avenue with her husband, Andres, two sons, three dogs and four remaining cats, said Frances failed to show up for breakfast Saturday.
''My husband thought he was in love. Poor baby. He was my favorite cat. I know Siamese [cats] are supposed to be distant, but he slept in my bed and everything,'' Elidia Rodriguez said.
The Rodriguezes learned of France's possible fate, and the monster snake lurking just five feet from the backyard, by chance on Sunday.
A man whose stolen car was abandoned in the woods behind Rodriguez's home came by Sunday to scour the grounds, hoping to find the wallet taken with the car.
''He came running over and said there was a really big snake over there,'' Elidia Rodriguez said. She called 911 and was referred to Miami-Dade animal control. Cruz, who usually answers calls for snake bites, arrived at about noon and found the snake coiled in the thick brush. Cruz said in order to get close, the brush had to be cut, which angered the python.
''He was very aggressive,'' said Cruz, who noted that it was obvious from the bulge in its stomach that the snake had eaten an animal. Snakes become sluggish when full. ``He didn't want to be bothered.''
Cruz explained that it takes about a month for a snake to digest its prey.
It took about 10 minutes for two Miami-Dade Fire Rescue workers and Cruz to trap the brown-and-black snake in a king-size pillowcase.
''That thing was huge,'' Cruz said, estimating it weighed about 80 pounds.
The snake was placed in the back of a police car and driven to the Sense of Wonder Nature Center at A.D. Barnes National Park at 3401 SW 72nd Ave. It will not be destroyed.
When the snake arrived at its new home, Cruz and Lt. Charles Seifert let it slither around on the ground in front of the center in a last taste of freedom. The python now will spend its days in a glass cage in the nature center.
''It is a matter of public safety,'' Cruz said.
Back in Miami Gardens, Rodriguez still clings to hope that Frances will walk through the door and that the mysterious bulge was another animal.
``I still would like to know for sure that it's him in the snake's stomach.''
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