Law enforcement officials remove a 12-foot long albino Burmese python from the home where it killed... 
(AP)
Some owners have freed pythons into the wild and a population of them has taken hold in the Everglades. One killed an alligator and then burst when it tried to eat it. Scientists also speculate a bevy of Burmese pythons escaped in 1992 from pet shops battered by Hurricane Andrew and have been reproducing since.
"It's becoming more and more of a problem, perhaps no fault of the animal, more a fault of the human," said Jorge Pino, a state wildlife commission spokesman. "People purchase these animals when they're small. When they grow, they either can't control them or release them."
George Van Horn, owner of Reptile World Serpentarium in St. Cloud, said the strangulation could have occurred because the snake felt threatened or because it thought the child was food.
"They are always operating on instinct," he said. "Even the largest person can become overpowered by a python."
Oxford is about 50 miles northwest of Orlando.
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Associated Press writers Matt Sedensky, Antonio Gonzalez and Lisa Orkin contributed to this report from Miami.
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