COCONUT GROVE, Fla. – Hurricane Irma brought winds, rains and, reportedly, a 12-foot python to South Florida last month.
The Miami Herald reports the slithering snake was hiding in a pile of debris left in front of a Coconut Grove home.
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When a removal crew began picking up the debris in front of Valeri Ricordi's home Tuesday, the python slinked out from under the pile.
Ricordi, who was watching it all unfold with her son and mother-in-law, claims she screamed when she first saw her new neighbor.
“It was terrifying,” Ricordi told the Herald. “Who knows what could have happened.”
A bulldozer driver attempted to scoop up the snake with the bucket, but accidentally killed it instead.
A biologist at the University of Florida told the Herald it was possible that the python made its way to the Coconut Grove neighborhood through canals from the Everglades.
Others reportedly told Ricordi the snake probably arrived through Biscyane Bay via Irma's storm surge.
Ricordi is putting the dead snake to good use as she'll have it skinned and tanned by a taxidermist, and then donated to the school where her sister teaches science.