Burmese Python Shot Dead In Missouri Yard

A 14ft Burmese python has been shot dead in a Missouri yard after it had apparently been targeting pets in the area.

The 160lb snake had been spotted in rural Warren County at the same time that two dogs and three chickens went missing.
Pauline Horstdaniel was woken on Tuesday morning after her dog began barking in the yard and she discovered the snake, KTVI-TV reported.
She said: "I was terrified. I got my husband out of bed. He's out there in his underwear with his gun."

An 18ft Burmese python was captured in the Everglades on 9 July

Mrs Horstdaniel called her father-in-law Clayton Dement for help, and he killed the python with two blasts from his shotgun.
Mr Dement told CBS Radio: "I'm sure it was hungry and whatever else, so it was being a little more brazen in its actions as far as coming out and trying to get the dog and other animals around here."
A Missouri Department of Conservation official said owners of Burmese pythons have been known to dump them outdoors when they get too big.
It comes after a female Burmese python was captured along a wildlife-watching trail in Everglades National Park - the second largest to be caught in Florida.
The snake, which measured 18ft 3ins and weighed 133lbs, was captured on Shark Valley tram road on 9 July.
Linda Friar, a spokeswoman for the park, said the snake was euthanised humanely and a necroscopy found it had not reproduced this season and its stomach was empty.
There are estimated to be as many as 100,000 pythons in South Florida.
Burmese pythons became established in Florida decades ago as a result of the international pet trade.
Over the weekend, Texas police cornered an albino monocled cobra after it was found in the third floor of an apartment block in Houston.
The venomous snake was blocking a residents' doorway and attacked police officers as they tried to capture it, CBS News reported.
Police were able to get it into a bag and animal control officers eventually euthanised the snake.
Earlier this month, pet shop worker Grant Thompson was found dead in his car in Austin, Texas, after he was bitten by a suspected monocled cobra.