Posted on 03/31/2011 3:34:38 PM PDT by EinNYC
Snakes alive! - the cobra has been found.
The Bronx Zoo's escaped snake was snared in the House of Reptiles on Thursday, six days after she slithered out of her enclosure.
"We found our snake and we're very happy," Jim Breheny, the zoo's director, told the Daily News.
The fanged fugitive was spotted coiled in a corner around 9 a.m., during one of three daily sweeps by a half-dozen zoo workers.
Using special tongs and hooks, they easily apprehended the deadly Egyptian cobra, which is now under observation.
"We knew it was going to be a game of patience. We set the place up to make it easier to search," Breheny said.
Contrary to one report, the zoo did not set any traps with mice for the snake. It simply kept the Reptile House dark and quiet.
"We wanted to just let her feel comfortable," he said. "We did everything we could to help her feel secure."
The snake escaped from a fiberglass box with a sliding glass front while no one was around.
"Clearly she finagled her way out of the enclosure," Breheny said of the cold-blooded Houdini.
Zoo officials are now reviewing the safety of the enclosures and plan to reopen the Reptile House soon.
The cobra will eventually go on exhibit - which should be a big draw, given its notoriety.
The hunt for the missing adolescent made headlines across the globe and prompted either anxiety or amusement from New Yorkers.
An anonymous wit even created a Twitter feed chronicling the reptile's made-up misadventures - and picked up nearly 200,000 followers, from Mayor Bloomberg to Ellen DeGeneres.
All along, zoo officials said they were confident the pencil-thin 20-inch-long reptile was still somewhere in the House of Reptiles, not roaming the city.
I hate clowns
I don’t hate snakes...really, not thrilled with them or want one as a pet, but they are God’s creatures, and they have a purpose...so let them be free.
Great post and well written on the zoo concept and its positives.
Zoo animals are “trained” and its pretty awful , but will research more of that.
Well said, those are my concerns too.
You sound like a really fun and great person to be around.
Best wishes to you and your husband,..people make rash judgments on the what “seems” to be obvious without looking at the real person.
ROFLMAO!
BEST REPONSE OF THE NIGHT!
You know I hate clowns... Sad Clown Face ——> :0(
I’m teasing you. But frankly, I don’t think snakes really care.
My son keeps telling me he wants one and I’ve absolutely laid down the law on this. No snakes in the house.
We have a black racer that lives under my lawn furniture and I think he is pretty neat. He’s pretty big. I live in FL, he likes the lizards and maybe the palmetto bugs. I say, eat away.
Thank you, REH. I try to live by “be joyful always, pray continuously and give thanks in all circumstances”. It comes out in the music. The joyful noise God wants to hear can be laughter as well as song (I’ve heard some that may have been experiencing joy when they were singing, but I think they were the ONLY ones). God bless!
“I don’t mind it being on my dinner table...”
LOL!
When you’re at the top of the Food Chain, eventually EVERYTHING tastes like chicken! :)
Had a run-in with a coyote early this morning. A little unnerving, but we all survived; me, my Lab and the coyote is back on the hill in the woods where he belongs!
(He would’ve made a nice hat, though!) :)
The first movie was so much fun! A classic, for sure. :)
LOL! Wow! Please be careful. Yes, he would have made a great hat!
It was a fluke. I think he was across the road looking for a Goose Breakfast at the lake and he may have been dinged by a car on his way back; he was limping a bit. But, just some yelling and waving the nearest branch I could find, while holding onto the Lab’s collar (no easy stunt!) made him run off.
Still...he was WAY too close to us; about 20 yards too close!
Labs can open carry now, you know?
She will from this day forward, LOL!
“Zoo animals are “trained” and its pretty awful , but will research more of that.”
I think you meant circus animals. And I hope things have changed, but yes, I recall stories from years ago on how the training seemed pretty cruel to me. But, it would seem to me that in order to have a good show, the animals would need to be kept up well in order to put on a good perfomance.
I remember when my son was young (5?) and we went to the circus. We stopped outside to listen to the protestors - some were pretty over the top. We chatted with one asking questions, etc.
On the rest of the way in I talked to my son about it and how they had their opinions, and what a great country this is that they can protest things, etc. And we talked about it after seeing the show.
Funny though - it was maybe a year later and he and I were going into the hardware store. There were folks outside getting signatures for a petition to ban trapping of animals here in Washington state. I went up to the table and said “What a great idea to do this in front of a hardware store!” The gal looked at me funny, not understanding. “Well, you’re trying to ban traps - right!?” “Um, yes....”
“Well this is a great spot. To stop them from selling their traps. They have all sorts of traps in there - moles, mice, and even rats! My son here has a pet rat named Marshmallow!”
“Oh, well it isn’t to ban THOSE kinds of traps”.
“Oh - why not? Don’t you like cute little rats? I like mice better, but my son wanted a rat. But she has grown on me.”
BTW - they did pass the ban. And you can still buy rat and mouse traps, and maybe mole traps for personal use. But I think that professional exterminators may not be able to use mole traps.
In my “hippie” days, I had an acoustic guitar —a Harmony Soverign and learned one blue grass song “Wildwood Flower”...that was the extent of my guitar career.Ha...Saw Joan Baez’ sister, Mimi Farina and a few others in Cleveland Oh in a club called La Cave.
what fun we had, small club, tables and chairs, sat maybe 200..enterance fee...$5..and just buying the beer.
there was lots of Bluegrass Festivals in Ohio, ..Athens, antioch, columbus...never did get to see doc Watson.
Your post brought back a lot of memories!
I think you are right that snakes don’t care///
Maybe its just me that wasn’t raised on a farm, so I guess I look at animals from a view that many would laugh at or sneer at.
God’s creatures deserve, at least, our respect and when we are involved to be compassionate.
I won’t camp in Fl cause of the snakes..ha. I live near water and watch out for Water Moccasins...
But of all the snakes, the most lethal ones are the ones at work...The snakes in a Suit!
Yes, I meant circus when I said cruelly trained animals.
Your post was very interesting! You write so well I could see the scenes you described!
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