WATCH: Giant python crosses road in Florida Everglades
EVERGLADES, Fla. - A video of a gigantic Burmese python crossing a road in the Florida Everglades is stunning viewers – but many think the person taking the video should’ve run it over.
Kym Clark was driving with friends earlier this year through Everglades National Park when they spotted something laying across the roadway.
As they got closer, the group realized it was a massive, 15-foot Burmese python!
"No, Siri, we don’t want to proceed to the route!" Clark joked in her caption on social media.
She stopped the car and the group got out to take video of the giant snake at a safe distance, which Clark posted to Instagram. The video shows the python slithering across the road and into the grass where it disappeared.
Clark says they pinned the location and reported the sighting, as Burmese pythons are a huge threat to Florida’s ecosystem.
Comments from viewers flooded her Instagram post, with many questioning why she didn’t kill the threatening reptile.
MORE NEWS: Killer whale found dead on Florida beach
"I mean I understand it’s beautiful but I would have tried to restrain or kill it humanely somehow. Worst environmental disaster to hit the US. Over 90 percent decline of all mammal species due to that snake," wrote one person.
Another asked, "Did you kill it? If so, why not? If you love the Everglades, you should."
"That thing was begging to be run over!!" another viewer wrote. "You could have pinned it under your tire and waited for reinforcements!!! Think of all the wildlife you could have saved."
"You should be ashamed of yourself for not killing it. You could have only ran over the head/neck," someone suggested. "People drive over fire hoses all the time and they don't kill passengers in cars. It will kill scores of the birds you want to enjoy."
Clark responded to the criticism, telling Storyful: "I have received a lot of comments that I should have tried to kill it, but it is dangerous and even difficult for the most experienced snake hunters with guns and special equipment. We did what we could by documenting it on film, pinning the location and reporting it to the authorities."
Burmese pythons are not native to Florida and negatively impact native species. They are found primarily in and around the Everglades ecosystem in south Florida where they prey on birds, mammals and other reptiles. A female Burmese python may lay 50 to 100 eggs at a time. Since 2000, more than 17,000 wild Burmese pythons have been removed from the state of Florida.