There are lots of reasons that the check engine light could come on in a Ford Mustang, but a big, honkin’ snake curled up under the hood is probably not in the service manual.
Wildlife officers were called to a business in Dania Beach, Florida, on Thursday morning to remove a 10-foot long Burmese python from the car’s engine compartment, according to a post on the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s (FWC) Facebook page.
Maor Blumenfeld said people at the business found the snake when they opened the blue Mustang’s hood to investigate the check engine light — which clearly was not specific enough.
Blumenfeld shot video of a wildlife officer grabbing the snake behind the head and then muscling it out of the ground, while another bystander tried to help him get the snake into a bag.
FWC spokeswoman Carli Segelson told CNN that agency staff now have the snake and it will probably be used as an education and outreach animal. She said it was probably not seeking a spot to warm up.
“Since it is still hot in South Florida, the snake was likely not in the car seeking heat,” she said.
Burmese pythons are not native to Florida and are considered invasive because they prey on native birds, mammals and even alligators, according to the agency.
The snakes are not protected and can be killed on private property and on 25 public lands in South Florida. The FWC encourages people to kill wild-caught pythons whenever possible, and to report any sightings to officials.
Burmese pythons usually grow to be about 10 feet in length, but a trapper known as the Python Cowboy captured a 17-foot-long specimen in June after a fierce fight in the Florida Everglades.
In August, Florida officials announced that they had removed 5,000 pythons from the Everglades.
