After Ga. Homeowner Kills Python in Yard, a Warning

Pythons are native to Southeast Asia, Australia, and Africa—so when they turn up in someone's yard in the US, it attracts notice. That's what recently happened at a home in Walton County, Ga., where what looks like a ball python showed up, only to meet its demise at the hands of the homeowner, the Telegraph reports. Per a post on Facebook by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources' Wildlife Resources Division, which shows a picture of the snake, the homeowner turned the dead python in to wildlife officials, who scanned it to see if it had an ID tag and to figure out if anyone had reported it missing.

No one had, they say. Wildlife authorities—who think the snake was released on purpose because the owner no longer wanted it, or because it got too big and the owner could no longer care for it—warn others not to consider doing the same, as the invasive species could wreak havoc. "Releasing exotic pets, like pythons, can have serious negative effects on the natural environment," state DNR officials say, per WYFF. To spell it out more clearly, per the Facebook post: "Please do NOT release exotic animals." (More pythons stories.)