By Barbara Liston ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - An 18-foot, 8-inch Burmese python set a record for the longest snake ever captured in South Florida, where the exotic species has taken up residence. College student Jason Leon snared the female python in a rural area southeast of Miami earlier this month, when he saw part of it sticking out from brush along the roadside, said Carli Segelson, a spokeswoman for the state's Fish and Wildlife Commission.

A Chinese tiger park has sought to quell public anger after images of holidaymakers sitting astride a strapped-down cub prompted outrage online, state media said Tuesday. Pictures taken at a Siberian tiger park in northwest China's Jilin province showed visitors posing for photos while sitting on top of a tiger cub tied to a wooden table, the state-run Global Times reported.

A critically endangered Sumatran tiger at a notorious Indonesian zoo where hundreds of animals have died in recent years is emaciated and on the brink of death, an official said on Wednesday. Melani, a 15-year-old female, has been suffering from a serious digestive disorder for the past five years due to a diet of tainted chicken which has pushed her weight down from 80 to 60 kilograms (176 to 132 pounds). "She is a hopeless case," said Tony Sumampau, chairman of Indonesia's zoo association who oversees Surabaya Zoo, where the tiger lives.

The Philippine coast guard said Monday it had found hundreds of frozen pangolins, or scaly anteaters, in the cargo hold of a Chinese boat which ran aground in a protected marine sanctuary last week. Wildlife officials have been informed of the discovery, which could lead to more charges for 12 Chinese men arrested for allegedly poaching after their boat was stranded in Tubbataha Reef last week. "We found 400 boxes containing anteaters aboard the vessel, and we are now determining where these came from," coast guard spokesman Lieutenant Commander Armand Balilo told AFP.