Massive python found on busy Coney Island boardwalk as families, children enjoy beach day
Officials said an officer observed a crowd, including small children, forming around a man handling the large snake with a smaller ball python around his neck.
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CONEY ISLAND, N.Y. - Beachgoers encountered quite the surprise after seeing a man walking the Coney Island boardwalk holding a massive snake.
Authorities said a man showing off an illegally-owned Burmese python was ticketed near Riegelmann Boardwalk in Coney Island, New York, earlier this summer.
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Officers hold a massive Burmese python that was found on the Coney Island boardwalk.
(New York Department of Environmental Conservation / FOX Weather)
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) confirmed on Thursday that one of its officers observed a crowd, including small children, forming around a man handling the large snake with a smaller ball python around his neck.
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When questioned by the officer, the man admitted to owning the large snake and identified it as a Burmese python, officials said.
The NYSDEC stressed that Burmese pythons are both dangerous and illegal to possess in the state of New York.
FORT LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA - MARCH 23: McKayla Spencer, with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation as the Interagency Python Management Coordinator, works with a Burmese python used to train dogs to detect them in the Florida Everglades on March 23, 2021 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is using the dogs to sniff out Burmese pythons. A black lab named Truman and a point setter named Eleanor hunt five days a week with a dog handler and an FWC biologist to search for pythons on different public lands across south Florida. The FWC is implementing dog sniffing python hunters to help find and eliminate invasive Burmese pythons in the Everglades ecosystem.
(Joe Raedle / Getty Images)
They also informed the public that Burmese pythons introduced into the environment can severely impact the native wildlife populations.
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The man was ticketed for illegal possession, and the snake was confiscated from him and transferred to the Nassau County SPCA.
This is not the first illegal animal that has been confiscated from the Coney Island boardwalk.
Our affiliate, FOX 5, reported in August 2023 that a wallaby was taken from a man who was profiting off of people who wanted photos with the animal.
Burmese pythons are native to Southeast Asia, but they've become a severely damaging invasive species in South Florida, particularly within the Everglades.