Exotic snake may be loose-NC

**REXANO** · Site Admin Joined: 13 Dec 2007 Posts: 394

Extremely interesting timing considering NC has been fighting AR exotic bills for a while

Z

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Published on Saturday, May 17, 2008

Exotic snake may be loose

By Nancy McCleary
Staff writer

Vernon Byrd said he isn’t sure just what type of snake he spotted Tuesday in the Cedar Creek community.

But he’s pretty sure about a few things: It was big. It was fast. And it wasn’t from these parts, as folks would say.

Byrd’s so sure it is something unique — and maybe dangerous — that he called the local game warden.

So sure that he called the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office.

When he got no help from them, he called Freddie Mims. Mims is licensed by the state to do wildlife rescue.

Byrd says he can’t help but wonder whether the snake was a cobra — which definitely isn’t from these parts.

Byrd, a property caretaker, said he was making his rounds on an all-terrain vehicle when he spotted the snake.

“The snake came up beside me and looked at me,” Byrd said.

The snake reared up — in what Byrd said was a striking position — and was about shoulder-height. Then, he said, the snake dropped into a coil about 1 feet high and pushed itself toward a shrub-covered abandoned house.

He said it was fast.

“I’ve never seen a snake move like that,” Byrd said Friday morning. “You can’t move that fast.”

Byrd estimated that the snake was between 8 and 10 feet long but only about 3 inches in diameter.

The snaked had a grayish color with green markings, he said.

Mims said he and Paul Howard, the Hope Mills animal control officer, searched the area Thursday without success.

Byrd said he notified homeowners on Johnson Road, about 100 yards behind the area.

Ida Edge said she heard about the snake from her sister, who lives in the area. Folks are edgy, she said. Some have reported missing animals.

Edge said she called Cumberland County Animal Control. Officials there said they would send someone to look around.

She doesn’t know whether that happened.

No one has seen the snake since Tuesday.

Staff writer Nancy McCleary can be reached at mcclearyn@fayobserver.com or 486-3568.

http://www.fayobserver.com/article?id=294217
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ZJBDragon · Joined: 13 Mar 2008 Posts: 52 Location: Westminster, MD

Let me get this straight...a 5 to 6 foot tall grown man says he saw an 8 to 10 foot long snake stand up to his shoulders at the 4 to 5 foot range, drop down into a coil, and then bolt off? On top of that, the man is driving an ATV which is normally gas-powered (loud) and of 4 or more wheels, yet the snake was perfectly happy to come right up next to this scary machine? On top of that, the man, who knows absolutely nothing about snakes or keeping snakes, instantly thinks it's 1) a cobra and 2) is deadly? Ok....and the man makes a scene by calling up everyone he can think of to complain. Then peoples' pets magically disappear from inside their houses and go missing, assuming that they weren't already outdoor animals (probably cats) who were half-abandoned and just receive free meals instead of the full home they should have.....(it's pretty obvious a snake with a belly full of a dog or cat probably isn't going to have an easy time getting past a dog fence or cat cage that should have been used to contain a well-kept outdoor animal)

This has got to be the most obviously fabricated and hysteria-induced news story of the month. What a joke. Maybe if these people actually owned snakes they wouldn't make up lengths, exaggerate on the height a snake reached, describe nearly-impossible scenarios where the snake would have been so scared it would have run away even before the ATV could possibly have arrived. This man, and the local residents freaking out about this should be forced to spend an hour or multiple hours meeting with a well-kept snake and learning from people who own these animals responsibly.

I think we should all start freaking out about stray cats and dogs and going hysterical about them.