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 ...
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.
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