That's Cold-Blooded: NY zoo closes reptile house after cobra disappears

[onedef92]

NY zoo closes reptile house after cobra disappears

Posted: Mar 27, 2011 12:29 AM EDT
Updated: Mar 27, 2011 6:09 PM EDT

NEW YORK - A poisonous cobra has vanished from an enclosure outside public view at the Bronx Zoo, and its Reptile House remained closed Sunday as a precaution while zoo workers searched for the missing reptile.

While the roughly 20-inch-long Egyptian cobra - a highly venomous species of snake - has been unaccounted for since Friday afternoon, zoo officials say they're confident it hasn't gone far and isn't in a public area. Its enclosure was in an isolation area not open to visitors.

"To understand the situation, you have to understand snakes," zoo Director Jim Breheny said in an email Sunday.

The animals seek out confined spaces, so this one has doubtless hidden in a place it feels safe, he said.

Once the snake gets hungry or thirsty enough to leave its hiding place, workers will have their best opportunity to recover it, Breheny said. In the meantime, the Reptile House remained closed indefinitely.

The missing cobra is an adolescent of its hooded species, which is believed to be the type of snake that was called an asp in antiquity. Cobra bites can be deadly if not treated properly, but the snakes aren't likely to attack people unless the reptiles feel threatened, according to a fact sheet on the San Diego Zoo's website.

Opened in 1899, the Bronx Zoo is run by the nonprofit Wildlife Conservation Society.

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Online:

Bronx Zoo: Saving Wildlife and Wild Places (http://www.bronxzoo.com)

[onedef92]

Bronx Zoo's missing cobra speaks out on Twitter

Posted: Mar 29, 2011 4:10 PM EDT
Updated: Mar 30, 2011 9:11 AM EDT

NEW YORK - The Bronx Zoo may still be looking for its missing cobra, but a tongue-in-cheek Twitter user is charting its supposed progress.

Someone using the handle BronxZoosCobra has been tweeting to a quickly growing number of followers - more than 85,000 by early Tuesday evening. In contrast with the user posing as the 20-inch, highly venomous snake, the Bronx Zoo had about 6,000 followers.

"On top of the Empire State Building!" BronxZoosCobra posted. "All the people look like little mice down there. Delicious little mice."

Tweets included one about "Sex and the City": "I'm totally a SSSamantha."

Another entry riffed on the weather and New Yorkers' fears of the slithering escapee: "It's getting pretty cold out. I think it's probably time to crash. Oh look, an apartment window someone left open just a crack. Perfect!"

The Reptile House at the Bronx Zoo, run by the nonprofit Wildlife Conservation Society, closed Friday after zoo workers searched but did not find the Egyptian cobra. Zoo officials said Monday they were confident the snake was hiding in the Reptile House but conceded that finding it would be difficult.

"The difficulty is that the 20-inch, pencil-thin snake, which is months old and weighs less than 3 ounces, has sought out a secure hiding spot within the Reptile House," the zoo said, describing it as a "complex environment with pumps, motors and other mechanical systems."

The user behind BronxZoosCobra refused to identify himself or herself or say who was typing the tweets.

"The iPhone touch screen works just as well with a tail," the person said in an email to The Associated Press signed, "Thankssss."

Asked about the Twitter feed's popularity, BronxZoosCobra "knew it would be popular with reptilian twitterers and a mild appeal to amphibians. Surprised the mammal response has been so huge."

Kris Stoever, a writer and editor from Denver, said she found the cobra tweeting very witty.

"It's a missing snake on the lam. It's the stuff of comedy legend," Stoever said in a telephone interview.

The only twitter account the snake was following was the one belonging to the Bronx Zoo, (at)TheBronxZoo. The zoo's account tweeted one message on Monday saying it understands the interest in the story.

"Right now," the zoo said, "it's the snake's game."

It could take weeks before the cobra feels secure enough to come out of hiding, the zoo said.

Though the cobra Twitter feed is clearly meant to be humorous, a real-life encounter with the snake would be no laughing matter.

Jeff Corwin, a wildlife expert for the Animal Planet cable network, said the snake may be small but "has very toxic venom" and "should be respected."

It's unlikely that the cobra, accustomed to a subtropical climate, would survive very long in the Northeast cold if it leaves the Reptile House, Corwin said.

Asked how the snake was faring in the cold, the user behind the Twitter account said: "Hiding in passerbys' scarves has been working for me so far, but I'm thinking about heading to a sauna to warm up for a bit."

New Yorkers, accustomed to urban legends about alligators thriving in the sewers, shouldn't be too worried, Corwin said.

"The truth is, you can sit on your toilet with comfort and relaxation," he said. "There will be no baby cobras coming up for a nibble."

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[onedef92]

Poisonous snake found that escaped from New York's Bronx Zoo

Published April 01, 2011 | EFE

Workers at New York's Bronx Zoo found the poisonous Egyptian cobra that escaped from its pen a week ago and has kept area residents alarmed ever since.

The serpent is alive and under observation and will be on view to the public again if the planned checkup finds it in good condition, according to zoo officials cited by the online edition of the New York Daily News.

The search team caught the hooded snake Thursday with some special tongs and hooks inside the Reptile House at the zoo, which the cobra had never left.

Zoo workers brought the Egyptian cobra out of hiding with a scattering of wood shavings that rats and mice use for nesting around the building, according to the CNN online edition, so that it would smell like mealtime to the serpent and lure it into the open.

The Reptile House has been closed since last Friday, when authorities noticed that the 50-centimeter (20-inch) cobra was missing, a dangerous situation since its fangs inject venom that will kill a person in less than 15 minutes.

Zoo authorities have now been proved right who said earlier that the snake would undoubtedly seek somewhere to hide, since such reptiles are averse to open spaces.

"We are confident that the snake is secure within the Reptile House. To understand the situation, you have to understand snakes. Upon leaving its enclosure, the snake would feel vulnerable and seek out a place to hide and feel safe," Jim Breheny, Senior Vice President for the Wildlife Conservation Society and Director of the Bronx Zoo, said when the cobra first went missing.

Besides keeping the public on edge, the escape also sparked a few jokes, and even the social network Twitter created an account for it that in a few days had almost 200,000 followers, and in which an anonymous blogger describe the reptile's slithering excursion around the Big Apple.

In its profile, the snake gave a first-person account of its adventures outside the zoo - like squirming to the top of the Empire State Building, going on a tour of the city as seen in the television series "Sex and the City," and even savoring the traditional cupcakes at the Magnolia Bakery.