Of course, there would be nothing even slightly unusual about a rule forbidding persons to bring snakes into a public park. The puzzle in this case is whether the law could have had in mind some distinction between snakes on leash and snakes not on leash, as well as how a snake leash would work.

Well, they are tied with alligators.

Attempts by pythons to eat full grown alligators are not unknown, but all the cases I am aware of ended in a draw. The python managed to kill the alligator but the snake ruptures and dies after swallowing the alligator. I’m not sure why, in theory a large python should be able to handle even larger prey than the alligator.