Oklahoma teen shocked to find 14-foot python in his backyard

An Oklahoma teenager got quite a surprise last week when he discovered a 14-foot-python slithering about in his backyard.

J.C. Lara, 15, says he woke up to the sound of his dog barking last Thursday evening in the backyard of their Cement home.

“I was just sitting on my couch, and I heard my dog barking. He was … in the middle of the yard, and I was like ‘What’s going on?’ He’s barking at the side of the house,” Lara told KFOR News in Oklahoma.

So Lara went to investigate, and quickly spotted the large python upon opening the door to the backyard.

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Naturally, his first reaction was disbelief.

“I come outside, and the snake is literally slithering in our yard, and I’m like ‘Oh, no, this is a dream,’” Lara said. “So I shut the door and open it back up, and it’s for sure not a dream. So, I go tell my dad.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "I come outside, and the snake is literally slithering in our yard, and I'm like 'Oh, no, this is a dream,'" Lara said. "So I shut the door and open it back up, and it's for sure not a dream. So, I go tell my dad."

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Disbelief was apparently the reaction of Lara’s father, Carmelo, as well.

“My dad was like ‘Hey, just go get the shovel’ and I was like ‘No, we need the gun … this is a huge snake.’ I didn’t know how long it was at the time, but I knew it was big enough to eat someone,” Lara said.

Eventually, the elder Lara shot and killed the snake. He says it was not a decision he came to lightly.

“I have kids, grandson and I don’t want nothing to happen to them, you know? I have dogs and all that stuff, so my kid sees this thing and I’m glad he found it. What about if he don’t? It would go under my trailer or something like that,” Carmelo Lara told KSWO News in Oklahoma.

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That raised a new conundrum for the Lara family: what to do with the massive snake’s body?

“We called the police and they said it was in our property, so we could do with it whatever we wanted,” Marisela Lara, JC’s sister, said. “And then we called the wildlife ranger and he said the same thing. We called even the sheriff’s department to see if we needed to do any report just in case a pet owner came up and said it was his. And they said no report needed to be done.”

So the Lara family buried the massive python in their backyard. Wildlife officials believe the animal was a Burmese python, one of the largest types of snakes in the world capable of growing over 18 feet in length.

The breed is not native to Oklahoma, meaning the snake was likely a pet or zoo animal.