INDIANAPOLIS -- Some fisherman came up with a bigger catch than they ever expected after finding a huge snake along the banks of an Indiana creek.

The men were fishing from kayaks Sunday on Wildcat Creek, a half-mile east of the Tippecanoe-Carroll county line, when they said they noticed something coiled around the roots of a tree.

Conservation officers with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources later identified the animal as an 11-foot-long Burmese python, native to parts of Asia.

Officer Joshua Schoon, who responded to the scene, said he was concerned because two families with small children were playing nearby. He shot the snake.

"The snake was only destroyed because leaving it in the wild would risk public safety and there was no readily available way to remove it safely," he said.

Conservation officers said they believe the snake was an abandoned or escaped pet.