A Cape Coral woman, Lexi Pantelup, recently found her dog engaged in a frightening encounter with a gigantic python in her backyard, according to NBC-2. Pantelup said the python was so long that she ”couldn’t see where he ended.” The incident came less than a week after a couple spotted another massive python in their driveway in the same Florida community.
Woman concerned for her dogs’ safety after python’s appearance
Lexi Pantelup said she’s shaken by the experience, even joking that she’s nearly ready to sell her home after the incident. ”It’s really scary, honestly; I’m about to put my house up for sale and go.” In regards to snake sightings ”becoming more prominent,” Pantelup shared that “it’s nerve-racking.” She’ll never forget rushing to the backyard after hearing her dog, Cane, yelping, only to see him staring down a snake.
”He was face to face like this through the fence,’’ she said, as she gestured with her hand. Continuing, Pantelup shared, ”I’ve seen a little water moccasin,” but “never anything that big.” The snake she saw was a bit more robust. Pantelup recalls the reptile’s size, saying it “was standing right there,” near her fence, “and the end of his body was still in the grasses.” Emphatically, she added, “you couldn’t see where he ended.”
Pantelup said she contacted the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, or FWC, immediately after seeing the python, but their officers couldn’t help since she didn’t have photographic evidence.
The incident has raised alarms across the neighborhood as Pantelup and her neighbors continue their search for the python.
Increasing number of pythons spotted in Cape Coral
While pythons are known to inhabit the Everglades, the City of Cape Coral has witnessed a surge in their numbers as of late. Earlier this month, a couple found a 9-foot Burmese python near their garage. They subsequently called for help, but when no one arrived, Kevin Monroe, his wife, and their neighbors decided to take matters into their own hands.
In another incident in Florida last week, a father-son duo helped capture the state’s second-largest Burmese python in Big Cypress Preserve, also as per NBC-2. Along with three other men, Mike Elfenbein and his son, Cole, managed to get hold of the 198-pound python.
”Her head was so big, like gripping a football,” Elfenbein told NBC2. ”There was five of us laying in the road on top of the snake and she lifted us up off the ground and kept going, it was pretty insane.”
