Bronx Zoo Closes Reptile House After Cobra Disappears

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:

www.bronxzoo.com

Comments

[k1fan100]

04:38 PM on 04/01/2011

What happens when humans collide with venomous snakes

http://www.searo.who.int/en/Section10/Section17/Section53/Section1024_3897.htm

[trumphent]

05:03 PM on 03/31/2011

Honey badger don't care!

[k1fan100]

04:37 PM on 04/01/2011

Thats because they ( like mongooses) have resistance/immunity to many snake venoms... Trust me if they reacted the same way a human does after being bitten by a snake like a cobra or other highly venomous snake they would be scared as hell of them just like humans are..Snakes( with the exception of animals that carry diseases) are by far the most dangerous animals to humans in the world.. No other animal even comes close..

Their are still tens of thousands of snake bite deaths in Asia and Africa. And India alone has 15,000 death+ per year. No other animal( except for disease carrying ones) remotely even approach that

[amtrak92]

11:01 AM on 03/31/2011

Just kill the snakes mate, then leave it out on the ground somewhere where you think it is. As it will come sit by it. Simple, then when it comes, either catch it or kill it

[BadWolf]

03:02 PM on 03/30/2011

He's on his way back to Egypt now that they have gained democracy and we are losing ours. Plus, it's warmer there.

[pierre F Lherisson]

02:51 PM on 03/30/2011

A dangerous snake is at large in the Bronx zoo and it must be found dead or alive before it is too late. In this case some suggestions might stimulate more people to do research in trying to find the right approach to solve the problem. The followings are my humble inputs:
->It is believe that if a snake cross over an area that contains lime juice that will cause it to die because of the burning effect on its skin but some experts argues that the outer layer of the snake skin is made of protein keratin which is the same substance that made our finger nails therefore I doubt it will harm the snake
->A combination of 28 % of sulfur and 7% of naphthalene a chemical found in mothball might chase away snake.
->Some insecticides.
->Electronics snake repellent emits pulsating vibration [exact frequency is unknown] which cause the snake to evacuate from its hideout but those electronics devices very often turns out to be useless.
-> Sound waves might be useless since snakes are deaf but the vibration of the sound might affect the snake nervous system and compelling the snake to move away but it remains to be seen which music will chase the snake from its habitat—a soothing type of music like Mozart, Pachelbel, Chopin, Bach or a dynamic Wagner, Beethoven or the diabolic Rock and roll type like the velvet underground, Lou Reed metal machine music or a Lady Gaga type of music

[Steamboater]

01:52 AM on 03/30/2011

Easy to find that snake. It's sitting in the governor's seat in Wisconsin spewing it's venom on the working man..

[k1fan100]

11:37 PM on 03/29/2011

The cobra venom can't bind to the mongooses mutated acetylcholine receptors..and there for the mongoose is still able to transmit messages from its brain to the rest of its body and it is not paralyzied... For humans the venom blocks the receptors causing in severe cases paralysis and death due to respiratory collapse..

[one1byke]

05:02 PM on 03/30/2011

Good. now... breathe...

[k1fan100]

04:50 PM on 03/31/2011

Lol..Well just trying to educate some people.. The mongoose being able to kill a cobra has little/nothing to do with its speed.. It has to do with the fact that it is resistant/immune to cobra venom. In fact both the cobra and mongoose have the same mutation in their acetylchol­ine receptors.. They both use the same strategy to not be hurt by the venom. Most animals( including humans) obviously do not have this mutation...

[jsgaetano]

07:05 PM on 03/29/2011

Is that a cobra in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?

[SnakeBliscan]

05:57 PM on 03/29/2011

I was at the Zoo on 3/26 (unknowing that the snake was loose) and again on 3/29.

Here is my snake scare story (in 2 parts)

http://newyork101challenge.blogspot.com/

[TaxedCitizen]

01:42 PM on 03/29/2011

Just in, Snake announces run for Mayor.

Things are looking up for NYC.

[tootsie1]

02:34 AM on 03/29/2011

there are so many funny post here I don't know who to fan...good to all...

[39air1]

05:58 PM on 03/28/2011

Where is S. Palin when you need a snake charmer.

[patsydecline]

05:09 PM on 03/28/2011

he met michele bachmann of eharmony and just couldn't wait...
my sympathies to the cobra

[dragonmaster]

04:24 PM on 03/28/2011

I wonder where the snake went? Outside, in this weather it would soon die.

[Cantinflas]

04:19 PM on 03/28/2011

Sounds like a job foe Riki-Tike-Tavi.