NEWS: Abandoned Venomous in AK

[BWSmith]

Little Rock, AR - A frightening discovery as four venomous snakes abandoned in a Little Rock neighborhood. but thankfully residents are now out of harms way.

It started when a driver stopped to look inside a wooden box at Sixth and Byrd streets. As he peered in, a cobra lifted its head- preparing to strike. Luckily, the reptiles are now in the hands of the Little Rock Zoo.

Handlers say the snakes are worth a thousand dollars- and while they are now contained--the question remains, where did they come from?

(Randal Berry, Little Rock Zoo) "Sure enough, there they were, I thought holy cow! We've got some pretty serious animals."

Reptile keeper Randal Berry opened up this box, labeled "live venomous reptiles" to find a very aggressive cobra, a 14 inch twig snake, a 6 foot long green mamba, and a 4 foot long black mamba.

(Berry) "Very venomous- especially the green and the black ones- could be a very serious bite."

Randal says these snakes are not in their usual territory, they're at home in Africa.

There, black mambas are classified as the largest poisonous snake- cruising up to 7 miles per hour. Green mambas live in trees and can swallow prey up to 4 times its size, and the bite of a twig snake is especially deadly-- because there is no known antidote.

Meanwhile, the cobra is known for not shying away when around humans. Randal says the cobra was more animated than the others--and he observes that whoever owned the snakes, fed them well.

Still many are scratching their heads trying to figure out how these out of country snakes made their way into Arkansas.

(Berry)"I'm just assuming that someone shipped them from reptile dealers."

Randal says it's up to their director, but they will most likely transfer the snakes to another zoo.

http://www.katv.com/news/stories/0504/147062.html

[haroldo359]

wow. glad i didn't find that.

[herpkingdom]

bw, YOU WANT THIS POSTED AS A NEWS ARTICLE???

[Cobraman]

Brian, Guess who shipped that to him???

[Diablo]

Wow, What the #$%^&#$%^&#$%^&#$%^& is that all about? That could have turned into a bad situation real fast.

[Cobraman]

Yep! That's not good

[roachpunk]

yikes! I wouldn't want to open a box not knowing there was a cobra in it.

[BWSmith]

My guess is a known voider Ray.

[Cobraman]

Nope! you guessed wrong. Actually the whole thig was completely legit. The sale was legal, the shipping was legal, and the customer picked up the shipment at Delta legally. Somehow between Delta and his destination the box ended up on the side of the road.

[BWSmith]

Actually, I was thinking of the DHL deal.

[MsTT]

Now why can't I find free venomous snakes on the side of the road. It's just not fair that people who don't want'em always find'em. *sulk*

[eddie]

It started when a driver stopped to look inside a wooden box at Sixth and Byrd streets.

Looks to me like the delivery driver (if it was a delivery driver-story only says driver) needs to be fired and charged with theft (unauthorized opening of a customers package), charged with neglect and abuse of animals (obviously chucked the box out of his delivery vehicle), endangering the public (pretty obvious as to what he picked up if it was all legit)
Last but not least, if stupidity was a crime.. this fellow should do serious time for opening a box of vens in a car, on a street.

At least the snakes are still alive