South Florida police have solved the mystery behind reports of several dead cats at a Port St. Lucie neighborhood after they captured the culprit: a 12-foot long, 120-pound heavy Burmese python.

Alarmed, residents in the area called on local authorities who responded to reports from residents about a large snake lurking in the area on Friday morning.

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After spotting the reptile, Sgt. John Holman immediately called for backup and extracted the huge snake from a waist-high bush.

They were also able to find a dead cat nearby leading residents and police officers to believe that recent reports of dead house pets, cats in particular, have been because of the massive reptile that had become fat and heavy from consuming the neighborhood felines.

Port St. Lucie resident Denise Keel stated she was not surprised police found a snake in the neighborhood because they once had neighbors who had snakes as pets, contained in aquarium-like cages.

Experts believe that pythons in general are responsible for reducing populations of domestic and native mammals in the Everglades.

Many of these reptiles are believed to be from pet owners who dumped the creatures when they grew too big, while others were escapees from pet stores during the devastation of Hurricane Andrew.

The population of these reptiles has rapidly increased in the area.

Reports state that though many of the creatures were killed during the weather freeze in 2013, pythons still pose a serious threat and consistent problem because they lay 20 to 80 eggs every year during spring time.

The state law now bans ownership and trade of pythons as domestic pets while national law forbids sale of the animal locally and internationally.

However, Sgt. Holman told the Daily Mail that they have identified one person who has authorization and license from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission  to have a snake.

Usually, snake hunters are the ones with special permits to remove exotic animals such as a python from state lands.

TagsBurmese python, cat-eating python, florida python eats pets, escaped python