reptile ping
I doubt that these animals would survive a winter in North Carolina if they even exist. So far, we have one person who claims to have seen one, but someone stoked with a little panic from a sensationalized news story could easily mistake a black rat snake for the cobra shown in the picture. The only thing that's been absolutely confirmed is that someone posted a flier saying that a couple of snakes had been lost. Anyone can download a few pictures from the web and photoshop a flier. I doubt that these animal rights freaks released real cobras. I wouldn't be at all surprised if the whole thing were a hoax perpetrated by the animal rights freaks.
I don't have a problem with a strong permitting system for anyone who wants to own venomous reptiles. I wouldn't want just any idiot with a checkbook to be able to own these animals in my neighborhood, but in reality, the permitting system rarely stops the worst offenders. I still find cobras less frightening than poorly raised children.
The sad thing is that so many people won't be able to see the difference between these high risk animals and the usual pet trade animals like king snakes, milk snakes, corn snakes, small python breeds, and boa constrictors. These small constrictors are less dangerous than most dog breeds and less of a threat to the environment than all house cats. The pythons and boas likely wouldn't survive in the wild in most of the United States. The others aren't genetically different enough from local natives to change the population in any discernible way.
Bill