A pet Burmese python broke out of a glass cage last week and strangled to death a 2-year-old girl in her Florida bedroom.

The tragedy was the latest and most graphic example of a problem that has plagued the state for more than a decade: a nonnative species that is wreaking havoc in the Everglades, threatening the environment, native wildlife and people.

Police remove a Burmese python from a home in Oxford, Fla. on July 1 after it killed a young girl.

“It’s just a matter of time before one of these snakes gets to a visitor in the Florida Everglades,” said Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla.

Nelson has introduced a bill to ban imports of the snakes, after years of trying to persuade federal wildlife officials to restrict their entry into the country. (more…)