A python terrorizing a South Florida community and threatening it with gunfire and shovels is an escaped pet named Pedro.
Riviera Beach Police Department spokesman Mike Jachles said the snake, which is 5 to 7 feet long, was released on an unauthorized field trip that somehow led to its release after a stir caused by its owner’s pregnant wife going into labor.
Jakles said the snake was about 20 years old and the owner had had it since he was 15 years old.
“Right now, I don’t know what’s going to happen. We don’t have anything pending with him,” Jakles said of the owner. “He said it had never happened before and somehow as he was frantically looking after his wife and rushing out, word got out.”
Jay Slagle first encountered Pedro outside his home on March 1, when he was mistaken for a Burmese python. Slagle was on his way to work at the high-end Louis Vuitton store in the Palm Beach Gardens mall.
Slagle’s development borders a dense forest and neighbors believe the snake may have come from a wooded area.
Pythons are a destructive invasive species in Florida that can be hunted humanely year-round without a permit.
Slagle, 65, armed with a shovel, said he was not prepared to kill Pedro because he was dressed for work, the snake was docile and he “wanted to preserve some good karma rather than destroy it himself.”
“I’ve lived here since 2003 and I’ve never seen anything like this,” Slagle said. “We saw a lot of creatures but no snakes because of the wildlife sanctuary.”
When his neighbor called 911 to inquire about Pedro, he may have had different ideas.
“There’s a big python in front of my door,” the neighbor said, according to the 911 recording. “I’m about to shoot. I don’t want to be charged for shooting in a residential area. I’m just saying.”
Riviera Beach Police Officer Josh Wilson arrived and helped Slagle throw the snake into a trash can. A trapper was called who also mistook Pedro for a python.
What is the difference between a python and an anaconda?
Experts say it’s easy, especially for the uninitiated, to confuse pythons with constrictors.
Burmese pythons and five other pythons are considered high-risk prohibited species in Florida. They may only be possessed by entities for the purposes of research, educational exhibition, control, or eradication. In the mid-1980s, pythons became established in Florida. Their voracious appetite has wreaked such havoc on the Everglades mammal population that the state employs full-time contract hunters who are paid by the hour to find and kill the snakes.
Pythons are not a prohibited species in Florida and can be kept as pets without a permit or license. The Florida Museum of Natural History website says boas may have been living in the wild in Florida as early as the 1970s, but there is only one mature breeding population in and around the Charles Deering Estate in Miami.
Boa constrictors have thick black spots on their skin like giraffes, while pythons have more hourglass-shaped markings on their skin that are tan, light brown, grey-brown or cream in color.
Are pythons suitable pets?
Taylor Stanberry, the python hunter who won the $10,000 grand prize in the 2025 Florida Python Challenge, said pythons can make great pets if they are petted regularly.
Aneth McCarthy, assistant director and chief curator of the McCarthy Wildlife Sanctuary in unincorporated West Palm Beach, agrees.
“If you handle pythons regularly, they can be very friendly,” McCarthy said. “But when it’s time to eat, they don’t think it’s a friendly moment and they can bite. I don’t think they’re the best snakes.”
At some point, someone realized Pedro was a red-tailed python, which saved his life, Jakles said.
As of March 4, Pedro was in a rescue facility, Jakless said.
“When a cat gets stuck in a tree, they call the fire department. When a snake gets out, they call the police department,” Jakles said.
It’s unclear what Pedro’s owners have planned for his companion of 20 years.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has an exotic pet amnesty program that connects owners of exotic pets who can no longer care for them with qualified adopters to provide these animals with new homes.
To participate, pet owners can email: PetAmnesty@MyFWC.com or call 888-IVE-GOT1 (483-4681), extension 1. 1
McCarthy said her shelter could also adopt Pedro.
“I hope we get the call,” McCarthy said. “If they call, we’ll take it. We have room.”
Kimberly Miller is a Florida reporter for the USA TODAY Network. She covers weather, environment and biology as a reporter for Embrace Florida. If you have a news tip, send it to kmiller@pbpost.com. You can get all of Florida’s best content straight to your inbox every weekday by signing up for the free Florida TODAY newsletter at: palmbeachpost.com/newsletters.
This article originally appeared in The Palm Beach Post: Pedro the python that escaped after panic in South Florida rescued
