Burmese pythons are taking over the historic Florida Everglades. Hunts are held regularly, but the number of snakes removed is not on pace with the rate at which the snakes are spreading. Researchers discovered something incredibly alarming.

When the researchers moved the snake out of the wild into an open area that day, the stressed python began to regurgitate the deer. If the snake hadn't of been interrupted, it would have eventually digested the less than 6 month old fawn.

The python was later humanely euthanized.

Burmese pythons, which came to South Florida via the pet trade beginning in the late 1970s and were eventually accidentally or intentionally released into the wild, have had the delicate local ecosystem in a choke-hold for years. The recent discovery could spell more bad news for Florida's already endangered panther population. White-Tailed deer and the primary prey for the state and federally protected Florida Panther.

Parallel to the state's conservation efforts, the South Florida Water Management District launched a python elimination program last year, sending python hunters into district-owned lands in Miami-Dade, Broward and Collier counties to track down the snakes and remove them.

This week a hunter in Collier dispatched a 5½-foot-long snake, the 900th python removed since the program began a year ago according to the Water Management District.