There are thousands of them all over Florida. Why? Well, because of these reasons:
1- The owner who purchased the snake was NOT informed on this species.
2- The owner did not want to care for a large snake.
3- The snake got out of it's enclosure which was not properly secured.

The third one is the reason why this python ban is active. The man who owned the snake did not have an enclosure that was secured properly, so his snake ended up killing a 2 year old. All because of one person's fault, we all pay for it. Now, there are pythons that cannot even get close to killing a person. The smaller pythons (Ball pythons, Children's pythons, Spotted pythons, Stimson's pythons, etc.) that grow under 6 feet are the most unlikely to kill or even have the intension to kill a person. Though, it would not be smart to put a 6 foot python over a toddler/child's neck. The larger pythons do mistake people for food, but it's not their fault. It's their instinct. They are born to kill and are born to be predators. Any snake can mistake your hands/fingers for food, but not on purpose. Any snake should be properly secured in an enclosure, no matter how small or how large.

People who are not informed on the snake they purchased are most likely to have a snake escape. People may buy the snake because it looks cool, or they just want to have a snake to show off. So, when a person purchases a Burmese python, or any other large constrictor, and does not know how large it's going to get, when that snake gets over 6 feet the person lets the snake go because that person did not want to care for a large snake. Now, that's the connection between the first and second reason I listed.

When a person does not want to care for a snake no more, they will let it go thinking it will do better out in the wild. Now, there are two things that can happen: the snake either dies, or adapts to the new environment and begins to breed with more of it's kind that have been released. Snakes, like many other animals, can adapt to new environment and gets used to the changes. That's what happened with the pythons in Florida, and now their breeding and eating anything they can, reducing the population of most animal species that are native to the area they are in. Little did the person know that the snake could easily be given away at a rescue or sold online. If you didn't want to care for a snake, the best to do is give it to a rescue or sell/give away online. That way you KNOW the snake is being given the correct care and is in the care of someone who wants it.

When you don't have a secure cage, that means that it is so easy for your snake to escape. Snakes are escape artists, and can escape through a whole that you can't even think it was possible for them to do so. This is why when you do your research you know how to keep the enclosure secure so your snake does not escape. Now, those inexperienced python owners in Florida that had their pythons escape are now a part of the python population in Florida just because the snake did not have a secure enclosure. And when your large python gets out, that poses a threat to people and animals in that area.

I believe if more people were informed BEFORE purchasing a snake, it would be less likely for the snake to escape, and the snake gets the correct care it needs. If the people who purchased the pythons in Florida (that let theirs go and didn't want to care for it or their snake got out) were more informed on that species and KNEW it would get about 20 feet long, there wouldn't be very many pythons in Florida posing threats to native species and people and most of the people would probably never have purchased the snake in the first place. Everyone, let's just hope and cross our fingers that this bill does not pass. The Burmese pythons are a part of the snake-owning hobby, as well as all of the other pythons. Snake-owning would NEVER be the same if pythons were banned. It's a responsibility to take proper care of the snake, and when you don't, this mess happens.