A 14-foot-long snake was found slithering near a busy road in Miami.
On the morning of Wednesday, September 17, the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office and the Pinecrest Police Department responded after a construction crew spotted a giant snake near their work site, according to the police department. The snake, a 14-foot Burmese python, was discovered in Pinecrest — a village about 11 miles southwest of Miami.
“Not your everyday traffic stop! Sergeant Carlos Atola and a Sheriff’s Deputy successfully captured a massive 14-foot Burmese python along U.S. 98,” the Pinecrest Police Department wrote in a Facebook post about the incident.
The post added, “This invasive species poses a serious threat to Florida’s native wildlife, and thanks to quick action, it’s one less slithering danger on our roads and in our community.”
According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), the Burmese python is not native to Florida. These snakes originally come from India, China, and Southeast Asia and likely spread through Florida, especially in the Everglades, via the exotic pet trade.
Florida holds an annual python hunt to help control the spread of these invasive snakes. Taylor Stanberry won the 2025 contest by collecting 60 pythons over 10 days. The FWC notes it is legal to humanely kill pythons in Florida year-round.
Burmese pythons are among the largest snakes in the world, usually measuring 6 to 9 feet long. The longest python ever caught in Florida was 18 feet, according to the FWC.
Burmese pythons are nonvenomous but are predators that eat birds, small mammals, reptiles, and sometimes even house cats and dogs. They are dangerous to Florida’s protected species, including the endangered Key Largo woodrat and the threatened wood stork.
