Posted on 05/17/2004 12:18:50 PM PDT by 11th Earl of Mar
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - A curious pickup truck driver spotted a box in the grass marked "Live venomous reptile" east of downtown and stopped to take a look.
"When you see something like that, you want to look and see what it is," Paul Mitchell of Little Rock said of his Friday afternoon discovery. "I went over and kicked the box."
The electrician looked inside and found a cloth bag slithering into the form of a cobra ready to strike.
"I was like, 'Hot dog! That thing is big!'" Mitchell said.
Mitchell grabbed up the box, put it in the bed of his truck and took it to the Little Rock Zoo.
"I was just going to take it back to work and kill it, but I figure cobras aren't indigenous to Arkansas," Mitchell said. "I knew the zoo would have a snake handler."
Randal Berry, the zoo's reptile keeper, took the snakes in out of concern for public safety. He said the zoo doesn't usually take in animals.
Berry said the cobra was very aggressive as he pulled it from the sack, repeatedly rearing its hooded head. Also inside the box were a 14-inch-long twig snake; an East African bright green mamba that measured 6 feet long, and a 4-foot black mamba. All are highly venomous and there is no antivenin in Arkansas.
Berry said the snakes were in good condition and estimated that, together, they were worth about $1,000.
No one knows where the snakes came from. The box had no markings other than "Live venomous snakes." Berry said no snakes were missing from the zoo.
Cindy Dawson, assistant city attorney and zoo docent, guessed that the snakes came into the city illegally. Keeping, selling, possessing or maintaining venomous reptiles is illegal, though some exceptions are made for education, research and entertainment.
City officials said they're hopeful all the snakes are accounted for, but that they would remind any animal control workers that calls reporting any exotic snakes could be serious and not pranks.
Zoo officials said they haven't decided what they're going to do with the snakes, including the seething cobra.
"I don't want it here," Berry said with a laugh. "He's not a nice guy."
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LOL!
FR constantly keeps me happy.
You aren't the only one he scares. I think he's just plain stupid for risking his sons life.
"Irwin held his baby son Bob under one arm while he fed a 13-foot (4-meter) crocodile named Murray with a dead chicken. Irwin later walked the baby inside the crocodile's enclosure as crowds looked on."
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/auspac/01/02/australia.crocodileman/
"I don't want it here," Berry said with a laugh. "He's not a nice guy."
Don't you just love it when these folks are conflicted: I don't want it but I don't want to kill it. Maybe just pass the buck.
Kill the damned SOB for crying out loud. It's vicious and deadly. Get it?
I don't see why not. They have the same environment, plenty of prey and few natural predators (I have no idea what would prey upon a mamba but its got to be a badass animal). Rikki Tivi Tavi would have a hard time with a mamba.
,,, looking for jobs.
FYI ....in Africa, most deaths from Mamba bites are caused by people trying to kill them. They don't just attack people for no reason, but they can be quite territorial, and they obviously don't just sit their when someone is trying to kill them. In scrub-land and grass-land, you do not want to go against an adult Black Mamba. Black Mambas are the second largest venomous snake (after the Hamadryad ....King Cobra), and they are the world's fastest snake. And unless you have the presence of mind to aim and drop an 10+ footer coming straight for you, bobbing and weaving, then you'd better best leave it alone. Unlike Rattlers, Mambas don't just sit squat making noise and wait to get shot.
Not unless you have a shotgun loaded with buck shot, and you have nerves of titanium and are a good shot. Anything else (eg solid rounds, or even worse, a stick or machete) and it's your @$$!
Unless you want to introduce your nervous system to a Mamba's neurotoxic venom. You'd better know how to breath through your skin, convince your body to utilize anaebolic respiration, or sprout gills, because your lungs won't be working in a while. However there is one good thing ....it is not that painful. Quite serene really, quite serene.
Like a gentle kiss by an electrifying lady.
And anyways, you'd make the local news.
Mea culpa.
I have heard stories of mambas tracking people through the trees like they are hunting someone....I know when my friends escaped his flew out of the cage & tried to get away.....when he saw he was being chased....the snake turned the hunt around & started going after my friend. The story ended well....but that was the last day the mamba stayed in his house.
and in Texas:
"Men are mean and sheep are nervous".
(no, I'm not from Arkansas....I just had an impulse to offer defense)
;>)
James Carville was my first guess when they said bagged angry cobra laying in the street in Little Rock AR.......!!
Stay Safe WD !
I loathe Snakehead but I must confess that his eccentric nature and oddball wit is something that is treasured in the Deep South.....his unfortunate politics notwithstanding.
Any sod poodles still left standing within 1500 yards of yer house?
I'll put the little critters to test in late June for sure.....video em for ya !
Stay Safe !
Safe trip!
Probably a large monitor lizard, but they're hard to find in our part of the world.
Clinton Library.
How appropriate.
Thanks.
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