"I would rather face a black bear than a python"

[Kinra]

Why do they always assume these snakes are released? I just -cannot- picture any keeper I've known letting their snakes go. If anything it would make sense that they escaped and the owner is too scared to call the cops and let them know...

It's a pet peeve of mine, they could have been released, but that's never the norm

They might have escaped, but I doubt it. I could see maybe my 5 foot ball python getting out and then some how finding her way outside, but I doubt it and I doubt a 15ft python could pull it off either. This was NJ so I doubt they were housed outside. The most likely scenario is that they were release intentionally.

Recently in WI someone went to a state park and release 3 reticulated pythons, it was a huge mess. People have intentionally released their snakes before and will continue to do so in the future and those people, how ever few and far between they are, give us all a bad name.