Washington authorities find 8 pythons in park prompting city to plead: ‘Do not release pets into the wild!'
Pythons don’t live in the Pacific Northwest
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Police and animal control personnel in southern Washington state found eight nonnative pythons slithering around a recreational area on Thursday.
The capture of the 3-to-6-foot-long reptiles prompted the city of Camas, Washington – across the border from Portland, Oregon – to warn people "please do not release pets into the wild!"
"You’ve heard of other duties as assigned, well maybe not like this!" the city jokingly tweeted of the find.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Authorities didn't say who might have left the snakes in the park but assumed they didn't get there on their own.
The snakes aren’t venomous, and while the ones found in the 312-acre Lacamas Regional Park were considered medium-sized, some larger pythons can grow big enough to constrict their owners, according to Reptileknowledge.com.
Only 17 people have been killed in constrictor snake-related deaths in the U.S. since 1978, according to the Humane Society.
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The snakes were taken to an animal shelter to be examined and potentially given new homes, FOX 12 of Portland reported.
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said pythons are a native species to Florida. Burmese pythons are considered to be an invasive species in the state.