Shoppers at the Homestead flea market in Miami were in for a surprise on Sunday.
According to the Miami Herald, a woman rummaging through a pile of clothes came across an eight-foot long, 40-lb Burmese python nestled between piles of shorts and t-shirts.
The python appeared to be digesting a recent meal and was resting in the cushy mound of folded clothes.
Miami-Dade firefighters were called in to remove the snake and it was handed over to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission where it will be euthanized.
These nocturnal creatures are an invasive species to the native Florida wildlife, so much so that the Commission is holding a contest next January to remove as many pythons from the Everglades.
Kristen Sommers, wildlife impact management section leader of the FFWC told Global News that the ultimate goal is eradicating the snakes altogether.
“They’re acting as a top predator in our ecosystem and competing with our native wildlife,” she said, explaining that they are often disposed of in the wild by people who no longer want to keep the snakes as pets.
Burmese pythons first appeared in the region in 1979 and exploded in population in the early 1990s.
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