Close Encounter With A Giant Anaconda In Florida’s Brevard County

Leisa Remsberg was taking her dogs for a walk on February 1, when she had a close encounter with a giant anaconda, in Florida’s Brevard County.

Imagine going for a walk with your two little cute dogs on a nice Monday morning. Before leaving the house, you pass the side yard and see a a large, shiny dark object curled up next to the house. Of course, you get close to check that ‘object’ out and you discover… a 9-foot green anaconda. It’s right there, in front of you and, as you remain speechless, the snake rears its head and goes after the two tiny dogs.

That is exactly what happened to real estate agent Leisa Remsberg, the woman from Florida who recently discovered the snake. In an interview given to Florida Today, the woman declared that she ‘wasn’t thinking what it was, because it was so large’ and that once it ‘raised its head up’ and began ‘snapping’ and ‘lurching’ at her dogs,

I started screaming for the dogs right away. 

she sustained, still terrified by the event.

A neighbor with experience with Florida snakes went to the rescue by using a shovel to hold the snake down so the woman and her dog could escape. He put the snake inside a plastic tub container with a lid and placed a piece of heavy concrete on top to keep it trapped inside until the authorities could arrive.

This is not the first case of an anaconda appearance in Florida. The second appearance of an anaconda in Brevard County took place within the last few months, in late November of 2015.

On average, green anacondas, which can grow up to 30 feet long, measure roughly 17 feet in length. The species, which weighs in at 550 pounds, is considered to be the largest snake in the world based on its weight to length ratio. The giant anaconda, known formally as Eunectes murinus, is an aquatic species native to South America. Their presence in Florida poses a risk to the state’s native wildlife, Florida Today indicated in a recent report covering the capture of the latest anaconda to appear in Brevard.

So, what happened to the snakes? The first one, that popped up in November, was shot and killed by state wildlife officials. The most recent one, that appeared on February 1 was removed by Brevard County Animal Services and later handed over to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (WCC). According to Investigator Damon Saunders,  they will pickle the snake before placing it on display at the Brevard County Museum.

The officials intended to make a scan of the snake, in order to reveal the existence of a microchip indicating an owner. The scan failed to reveal any kind of cheap, which leads to spokesman Greg Workman’s conclusion about the snake:

Basically, it wasn’t there legally […] They’re a top predator. They get huge. They can really decimate an area.

All in all, the good news is that the woman and both dogs were not harmed during the snake attack, but the people from Florida’s Brevard County will surely think twice now before going for a walk on a Monday morning.

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