8-foot python startles man and dog in Florida garage
PEMBROKE PINES, Fla. - An 8-foot-long python slithered into a Florida garage, startling an unsuspecting homeowner who was taking his dog for a walk.
Joseph Liscinsky tells the Sun Sentinel that he quickly put his 14-pound dog back inside his Pembroke Pines house after spotting the snake Friday morning.
The snake began to slither toward his house and when he walked into his garage he looked down and spotted it. "I just jumped," Liscinsky told WSVN.
Liscinsky says the python bit his fingers a few times as he tried to wrestle it into a pillow case before wildlife officials arrived.
Pythons are not venomous, but they have a sharp bite. The snakes are an invasive species in Florida, where they are blamed for decimating populations of native mammals.
Liscinsky says he worries pythons could use a nearby canal to travel from the wetlands in the suburbs.
FWC officials tell WSVN they don't plan to immediately put the snake down. They will try to find a place for it to live first.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.