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Python's suspicious bulge may be lost cat

MIAMI GARDENS - Maybe this Burmese python is smarter than the one that tried to eat an alligator but exploded because its prey was so big.

This snake apparently took on an animal that never stood a chance - Frances, a 1-year-old Siamese cat.

Frances vanished last week from his owner's home, but his whereabouts were possibly revealed Sunday. A snake expert thinks Frances is the bulge inside the 12-foot-long Burmese python.

"Poor baby. He was my favorite cat. I know Siamese (cats) are supposed to be distant, but he slept in my bed and everything," said a distraught Elidia Rodriguez, the cat's owner.

The snake was captured and taken to a nature preserve, where it will live in a glass cage.

Earlier this month, a 13-foot python had a run-in with a 6-foot American alligator in Everglades National Park, and neither animal survived. The python blew up as it tried to swallow the alligator.

Capt. Al Cruz of the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue antivenin unit said Sunday's case can likely be blamed on the recent rains. The snakes "are looking for dry land," he said.

Many pythons, which are native to Asia and not Florida, end up in the wild after being abandoned by their owners once they grow too big to handle.

No one actually saw Frances, named after one of last year's hurricanes, end up in the python's grip. Rodriguez learned of the big snake lurking just 5 feet from the back yard by chance on Sunday.

A man whose car was stolen and abandoned in the woods behind Rodriguez's home came by to look for his wallet in the vehicle. He found the snake instead. Rodriguez called 911.

It took about 10 minutes for Cruz and two other rescue workers to trap the brown-and-black snake in a king-size pillowcase.

"He was very aggressive," Cruz said. "He didn't want to be bothered."

[Last modified October 11, 2005, 01:57:17]