Posted on 05/19/2008 10:32:58 PM PDT by george76
Vernon Byrd was on an all-terrain vehicle in a field off Johnson Road last Tuesday when he said an 8-foot-long snake reared up beside him – and the serpent's head was about shoulder high to him.
"I caught something out of my eye, and this snake comes up beside me and looked at me," Byrd said. "I've seen every kind of snake in this part of the country, but I've never seen a snake like this."
He called Freddie Mims, a licensed wildlife rescue agent, who said the description of the snake sounded like a king cobra, the world's largest poisonous snake.
"Somebody (probably) had one illegally and sold it illegally. The person that bought it (likely) accidentally let it escape,"
Residents said pit bull puppies and chickens have disappeared in recent days.
Byrd said he doesn't walk in the field anymore without a gun, and he won't go into the woods where he last saw the snake.
"(Wildlife agents) tried to get me to go with them, but I wouldn't. I told them they hadn't seen what I'd seen."
(Excerpt) Read more at wral.com ...
pit bull puppies and chickens have disappeared in recent days.
Scratch N. Carolina off my places to visit list.
Just wait until they start coming up through the toilets in NYC.
Our neck of the woods is blissfully boring here in the Appalachians. I welcome a few exotic pets being turned loose in the woods to make life more interesting. Rattle snakes and Copper heads get boring after awhile.
Would a King Cobra be able to survive winter in that area of N.C.?
Who would he have little snakes eggs with?
Oh! I agree, next time I hit "the old swimming hole"....
I may find some piranhas...w/ me. 
Maybe the Cobra is a female and already expecting little Cobras? (What a horrible thought, I hope not.)
I’ve seen a King Cobra in the PI. The snake can rear up to shoulder height and if your bitten you’re dead in half an hour.
that'll give some freepers multiple Os
Wow. And I bet they don’t have handy access to the King Cobra antivenin here in NC either.
I’d guess the best chance to catch this snake is right after its had a pit puppie sandwich or some chicken a la king cobra.
A King Cobra in North Carolina? That is frightening. Someone posted a picture of a Cobra on a thread and I read that they will chase their prey with their body raised up like that!
We'll see if we can't mail-order a couple of these for your local lake or swamp...
I think that is what Obuam and his Ho-Up spouse drink while putting down Whitey.
The Facts,
NSNR
Namely, I do not believe in the lochness monster (or bigfoot, the yeti, aliens, etc) .....but that does not mean I would go swimming in loch ness (or trekking through supposedly Yeti-infested parts of the Himalayas, or spending a night in Castle Dracula, or skinny dipping in Lake Tele in Africa). Not because I think something malevolent and ravenous will rise up from the dark and dank depths, but rather because I'd rather not tempt fate. Once upon a time the Mountain Gorilla was thought to be a myth (as late as the late 19th century), the Okapi was a legend until early 20th century, and as late as the 1960s the Boomslang was supposed to be a non-lethal species of snake (even though local Africans always regarded it as a handgrenade with scales .....it took the rather horrific - think bleeding from every orifice, black urine, etc- death of a prominent herpetologist for the scientific community to recognize that it is actually an extremely venomous snake that just happens to be back-fanged).
Thus, if people say they saw some lake monster in Late Tele, some aquatic dinosaur in Loch Ness, some abominable snowman in some remote locale, or that every 10pm greenmen abduct cows in some forsaken corner of Wisconsin, I will NOT believe it ....but neither will i chose the location for a midnight picnic.
I thought he was talking about a Shelby GT Cobra...
About 10 years ago I had 4 emu's come through my property here on the Cumberland Plateau. Somebody must have gotten tired of feeding them and turned them loose. It was a cold winter day and it had been snowing, maybe 3"-4" on the ground. They left the oddest 3 toed tracks.....like a chicken on steroids....
They should get a mongoose. Honestly. A king cobra wouldn’t dare visit a place where a mongoose lives.
Cumberland County is home to Ft. Bragg and Pope AFB. Is it possible a serviceman managed to smuggle the snake into the country from Asia?
Drown them in vinegar and you’d have Eastern style NC BBQ!
Man I almost needed a change of clothes just reading it. Don’t blame him. I wouldn’t go back in there either.
See, with, Homeland Security, Congress, and W not building the fence/wall in time along the Mexican border, anything can just slither in any time now!!
Yikes!
But who knows. Maybe it's a "don't tread on me King Cobra" making a political statement.
The recent reports that there are 30,000 pythons/boa constrictors loose in Florida are scarier.
Thats plenty for a breeding population. Quick! we need someone bring in another exotic species to combat them— sorta like bringing in nutrias to eat waterlilys.
Damn. Smart people with a proper sense of self-preservation spoil our "Hold muh beer an' watch this" jokes.
Time to put a little animal on a teather, get out the spot lights and your favorite 5.56 and go to work.
Sounds like an episode of “Bizarre Foods” on the Travel Channel.
I think I shall stick to pork!
Quick, paging Romulus Whitaker - expert on King Cobras. If they are serious in catching the snake, Mr. Whitaker is the point man on this./Just Asking - seoul62.......
There’s always the chance that this guy was tending his still and ran over a garden hose that flipped up in his face.
This was first news to me, thank a million for posting. I travel and stay at time in North Carolina.
Hey! I resemble that remark! ;>
Actually a mongoose would flee from a King Cobra. The Hamadryad (KC) is the world's longest venomous snake, with the longest individuals reaching just under 18 feet. Adults are over 11-12 feet on average, and pack enough venom to kill an Elephant. They are also very territorial.
The mongoose is quite good at killing snakes (as well as eating eggs, snacking on insects, etc ....although eating termites is not as sexy as killing a venomous snake). Most pictures one sees of a mongoose involve it fighting an Indian cobra (the Naja Naja is a much smaller species of cobra), and that does occur every now and then (and based on what I have read there is some arms race going on between snakes and mongooses ....whereby the mongoose has some level of immunity to some snake venoms, and snake venoms progressively become more effective against mongooses, leading to a situation whereby one has an upper hand depending on the time).
Anyways, the fact is that a mongoose will never face off against an adult King Cobra (or for that matter even a juvenile). The cobra species that the mongoose would face (in India) is the Indian cobra, although even that is rare. There are far smaller snakes that are not venomous available, as well as a host of insects and earthworms and the like.
The mongoose would always lose against a hamadryad.
IIRC King Cobras are snake eaters.
Unlikely to get a puppy.
Did see an episode of Cops the other night, somewhere in the SouthWest.
The cops caught a Burmese or Retic Python. The neighbors said it was the 3rd one caught in the neighborhood !
Whoever's little precious pet it was I hope some locals find the rightful owner {Idiot} and dish the dirtbag out some good old fashioned Appalachian justice. The so called snake lovers need to start being held criminally responsible for their so called accidental releases.
if it really is a King Cobra then the pit bull puppies and chickens that disappeared have nothing to do with it. A king cobra is exclusively a snake eater and will only strike other animals if it feels threatened.
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