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Driver Finds Four Poisonous Snakes in Box ["So I went over and kicked the box!"
AP ^ | 5/17/04

Posted on 05/17/2004 12:18:50 PM PDT by 11th Earl of Mar


Today: May 17, 2004 at 11:05:46 PDT

Driver Finds Four Poisonous Snakes in Box


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."

--




TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: Arkansas
KEYWORDS: cobra; garrickwales; snakes; yikes
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SHAZZAM!
1 posted on 05/17/2004 12:18:51 PM PDT by 11th Earl of Mar
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To: 11th Earl of Mar

Are the Clintons' in Arkansas?


2 posted on 05/17/2004 12:22:09 PM PDT by zencat
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To: 11th Earl of Mar; Squantos; B4Ranch

I know when I see a box labeled venomous reptiles, my first reaction is to kick it.

Are there electric fences in Arkansas?


3 posted on 05/17/2004 12:22:54 PM PDT by glock rocks (Please pray for our patriot armed forces in harm's way - and the families awaiting their safe return)
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To: 11th Earl of Mar

You gotta wonder what would have happened had the box been marked "Nitroglycerin."


4 posted on 05/17/2004 12:23:02 PM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: 11th Earl of Mar
Huh ... you'd think that anybody who thinks to label their box, "Live Venomous Reptiles," would also notice, and report, that they were missing.

That they were not reported missing makes one wonder why on God's Green Earth would there be a black market in venomous reptiles.....

5 posted on 05/17/2004 12:23:15 PM PDT by r9etb
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To: 11th Earl of Mar

""I went over and kicked the box."
"

Hold muh beer an' watch this BUMP.


6 posted on 05/17/2004 12:23:35 PM PDT by MineralMan (godless atheist)
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To: zencat

Yes, the Clinton's are in Arkansas.

Didn't you read the story?

They are inside the box?


7 posted on 05/17/2004 12:23:38 PM PDT by 11th Earl of Mar
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To: glock rocks
Are there electric fences in Arkansas?

LOL!

8 posted on 05/17/2004 12:23:52 PM PDT by r9etb
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To: 11th Earl of Mar; mhking

Hold muh beer...


9 posted on 05/17/2004 12:24:11 PM PDT by Choose Ye This Day (Better a bag over your head than your head in a bag.)
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To: 11th Earl of Mar

Hey, y'all. Watch this!


10 posted on 05/17/2004 12:24:48 PM PDT by CholeraJoe
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To: 11th Earl of Mar

Looky this little critta! Crikey!


11 posted on 05/17/2004 12:25:57 PM PDT by stainlessbanner
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To: glock rocks

"Are there electric fences in Arkansas?"

Don't know, but if you git a divorce in Arkansas are you still brother and sister?



12 posted on 05/17/2004 12:26:10 PM PDT by TRY ONE (NUKE the unborn gay whales!)
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To: zencat

13 posted on 05/17/2004 12:26:37 PM PDT by billorites (freepo ergo sum)
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To: 11th Earl of Mar

Maybe algore found another use for his lock box...


14 posted on 05/17/2004 12:26:44 PM PDT by Corin Stormhands (Senator Kennedy, please take the panties off your head.)
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To: 11th Earl of Mar; aculeus; general_re; BlueLancer; Poohbah; hellinahandcart; mhking; ...
The box had no markings other than "Live venomous snakes."

Sufficient warning for most of us.

15 posted on 05/17/2004 12:27:01 PM PDT by dighton
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To: 11th Earl of Mar

Wish I could remember how to make rattlesnake eggs, cuz it was always a winner on April Fools day & I never pulled it on any of my kids. The severed finger in a box got old for them years ago.

Anyway, speaking of zoo mishaps, did anyone around here post anything about the two thousand gallon monkey dung drop on one of Milwaukee's freeways, bout a week ago?


16 posted on 05/17/2004 12:27:18 PM PDT by GoLightly
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To: zencat; 11th Earl of Mar

"When you see something like that, you want to look and see what it is," .

"I was just going to take it back to work and kill it, but I figure cobras aren't indigenous to Arkansas,"

"I was like, 'Hot dog! That thing is big!'"

I've never been to Arkansas, but I understand that both The Sinkmaster and Snuffy Smith are residents.  You just can't make this stuff up.

Owl_Eagle

”Guns Before Butter.”

17 posted on 05/17/2004 12:28:07 PM PDT by End Times Sentinel (Rice Ashcroft in 2008!)
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To: stainlessbanner

18 posted on 05/17/2004 12:28:30 PM PDT by billorites (freepo ergo sum)
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To: zencat

Naughty boy


19 posted on 05/17/2004 12:28:38 PM PDT by Mark in the Old South
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To: TRY ONE

In Massachusetts, you're still Brother and Brother or Sister and Sister.


20 posted on 05/17/2004 12:28:41 PM PDT by Lonesome in Massachussets (Uday and Qusay are ead-day)
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