Louise the Burmese Python (c.1998-2025)

Louise, a 26-year-old leucistic Burmese python, died at the Kansas City Zoo from ovarian cancer and heart disease. Exploited for the pet trade, Louise came to the zoo from a private home in 2004 after being seized by law enforcement.

Burmese pythons are among the biggest snakes in the world. They live and swim in Southeast Asian forests and can reach 200 pounds. They can remain underwater for up to 30 minutes and hunt using chemical receptors and heat sensors on their tongues and jaws.

Relentlessly abused by the pet trade and frequently abandoned, Burmese pythons have taken hold in Florida. Their existence jeopardizes threatened and endangered species such as the wood stork and the Key Largo woodrat. Sadly, Burmese pythons are not protected by Florida’s animal cruelty laws, and they can be killed without a license. Burmese pythons themselves are in danger of extinction. They are classified as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List due to habitat destruction, the pet trade, and fashion.

Louise belonged in the wild, not in someone’s home. 125 pounds and nearly 15 feet long, it would not be possible to provide her with the kind of life she deserved in a house or apartment. The Kansas City Zoo is using Louise’s story to remind people that Burmese pythons aren’t “pets.” But even the smallest snakes deserve a wild life. Smaller snake species like ball pythons are also wild animals, yet they are sold in PetSmart and Petco stores across the US. No tank can come close to the diverse and vast habitats snakes enjoy outdoors.

Moving from a human home to a zoo gave Louise a better life. Zoos should shift from breeding and acquiring animals and focus on caring for wild animals who can’t be returned to the wild, like Louise, and genuine conservation efforts where babies are placed in the wild—not held in captivity. World Animal Protection urges everyone who loves snakes to enjoy them in the wild or at accredited sanctuaries.