Do you think people should be allowed to own exotic pets like this giant python? Why or why not? Read the article below, and post your opinion.
What a neighbor -- a 'monster' 18-foot pet python
Delilah, an 18-foot-long, 400-plus-pound Burmese python who'd enjoyed a swell existence in an Apopka-area backyard feeding on rabbits, has a new home -- for now.
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officials removed the giant snake from a home on Section Drive due to concerns about Delilah's size and whether the chain-link cage she was in was secure enough to contain her, reports the Orlando Sentinel.
"To me it's a Goliath. It's a monster of a snake," Lt. Rick Brown with Fish and Wildlife's Investigations section said, adding it is the "largest I've ever seen."
Recently, the snake was being cared for by Melvin Cheever, of Apopka, the brother of her owner.
Cheever said his brother was moving to West Virginia and left the snake behind to prepare her new accommodations. Cheever said his brother has owned the snake for 16 years.
"I fed her this morning, gave her seven rabbits," Cheever said soon after the snake was placed in a container and prepared to move from the small community alongside Lake Apopka. "She is as docile as can be. She's as happy as can be."
Cheever acknowledged the snake, which measures 30 inches around, had escaped its enclosure in the past.
Which doesn't make us especially happy.
Photo: A python named Delilah was moved by Florida Wildlife officials to a temporary home when his cage near Lake Apopka, Fla., was deemed unsuitable on Friday, Sept., 11, 2009. They measured her before moving her to a more secure location. She had escaped in the past. The 16 year old snake was measured at 18' long and 30" around. She will be moved to a snake handler in Bushnell, Fla. (GEORGE SKENE, ORLANDO SENTINEL / September 11, 2009)
