8-foot Burmese python found under couple’s backyard shed after eating opossum

FREEHOLD, N.J. (WABC) - A New Jersey couple got quite the surprise when an 8-foot-long Burmese python made itself at home in their backyard.

Edward Daley says his wife was watering flowers near a shed in their Freehold backyard when an 8-foot Burmese python went slithering past. The Daleys called the Monmouth County SPCA, but even animal controls officers couldn’t believe it.

“The homeowner sent us a video of what we were actually dealing with, and when we all saw it, our jaws kind of dropped a little because that is a Burmese python, which definitely does not belong out in the wild in new Jersey,” said Scott Crawford with the Monmouth County SPCA.

Animal control officers say the python had taken shelter beneath the floor of the Daleys’ shed. But the biggest problem they faced with capturing it was the snake’s full belly, meaning it weighed 40 pounds.

“He had eaten a meal prior to going under there. So now, due to the size of him, unfortunately, we couldn’t just pull him back out through the hole he came in,” Crawford said.

The Daleys called in a contractor friend, who tore up the shed’s floorboards, and even then, the belly still got in the way.

“So, we had to dig around him a little bit to free him up. Still couldn’t tell exactly where his head was,” Crawford said.

Once they finally got the python out, the Monmouth County SPCA’s medical staff examined it and learned it had recently eaten a large opossum.

“It poses a risk to local wildlife and people’s domestic pets,” Crawford said. “Something like that is the adequate size for it to become a meal, unfortunately, for this animal.”

Officials are now working to find the python an appropriate long-term home. It may end up in a zoo or in the private ownership of a proper expert, but one place it won’t end up is back at the Daleys’ house.

“I’m not a big snake person myself,” Daley said.

While it’s not illegal to own a Burmese python in New Jersey, permits for ownership are required. Officials suspect someone may have released this snake into the wild because they either didn’t have a permit or it got too big for them to handle.