A python sneaked aboard a sailboat Inside the Florida Keys and lurked undetected till the boat accomplished a shut to-100-mile voyage, police said.

The crew found the 7ft snake Inside the boat’s bathe after docking on Friday at Marco Island, on the south-west Florida Gulf coast, after A go to from Indian Key, a distance of about 95 miles Throughout the southern tip of the state.

Police responded and transferred the snake to An space wildlife handler, Based mostly on a information launch.

The police division posted a quantity of photographs of a uniformed officer grinning on the boat with the python coiled a quantity of occasions round his arm.

In Might, an “8ft-plus” python was captured on A ship in Coral Gables, the Miami Herald reported.

Pythons believed to be descended from pets are ravaging native species in parts of southern Florida and overrunning the Everglades. The pythons, Which may develop to 20ft and 200lb, prey on native mammal and chook populations.

The US Geological Survey has said There’s not a proof of pythons swimming from the Everglades to the Keys however has not dominated it out completely.

“As a Outcome of pythons frequently escape or are launched from captivity, It Might be troublesome To Search out out whether or not a snake encountered Inside the Keys arrived there by swimming from the mainland or was a former captive pet on the island,” the agency has said.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/nov/13/snake-boat-7ft-python-florida-coast