 “There's a good chance we never would have found him,” said Scott Hardin, exotic-species coordinator for the state Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.“This was always my concern, what would happen when an exotic species like the python intersects with an endangered species.Here it's happened, and it has the potential to be a serious problem.” Hardin later assumed the seven and a half foot snake was either an escaped or released pet by someone who realized the python "[had] become a burden".