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This story went national and a lot of people who visit my site want to know what really happened.
Any google search on my name lately will link you to quite a few news items, plus a couple of rather
lengthy exchanges on Dave Barry’s Blog in Miami. Some of that is just hilarious.
My position as Senior Regional Field Herpetologist for Snake Removal, Inc. keeps me busy with lots and lots of local species. Being the only nationwide service that specializes exclusively in snakes, we get calls of all kinds from all over the country, but for some reason something like this had never seemed to happen to me. We’ve had roommates who failed to mention upon leaving that the pet boa was loose, huge pythons in neighbor’s crawlspaces, and several other instances of exotics involved when we respond to the call. I joked with Michael Weeks, President of Snake Removal, back when I joined the team in 1994, that someday my new position might find me in a crawlspace with a cobra. 10 years later, it actually happened. Normally I’m booked to do a removal when someone calls 800-339-9470 and leaves a message in the appropriate mailbox, after hearing the service and pricing details. This one came through the back door. I was on my way back from Denison, TX where I had done a series of Snake Encounters shows for a large scouting event when a call from a relative came in, asking if I had heard about the cobra that was loose in Dallas. I said no, I had been on the road, but was sure if there really was a cobra, I would be hearing about it. Sure enough, when I got home, the answering machine message began, “Hello Daryl. We have a cobra problem. Please call ASAP.” I called and explained how the inspection and removal service works, and quoted a price based on the 5400 sq. ft. crawlspace they needed. There were no special hazard fees that applied, so the same rate anyone with a house that big would have paid for a garter snake problem was what I quoted. Obviously, we don’t normally expect exotic elapids (the family that includes Cobras, Kraits, Sea Snakes, and our own Texas Coral Snake) to be a big problem in urban neighborhoods in central Dallas. The call included two condo unit interiors on the first floor, at the great encouragement of the homeowners involved. The crawlspace was less than 19” high in places. We normally set the minimum limit at 24, but several areas were that high, so in I went. The news media in Dallas had by now already arrived and were waiting for me. A cobra? How many are there? Is that what you’re wearing? Where’s your gun? What happens if you get bit under the building? That last one really got them going, because the answer wasn’t good. There was no antivenom for that species available anywhere closer that Brownsville, TX. A zoo there had several Naja Naja Kaouthia, the Monacled Cobra, a native of Thailand. It is so prolific in that country that the Thai Red Cross purchases more antivenom for this species than any other. It has been known to charge when cornered – like in a crawlspace with a 6’4” guy lumbering in after it. I told them I had my cell and could call 911, but who did they think was going to crawl in after me? About 100 feet down the most likely side of the space, the one just inside the opening from which witnesses had seen the cobra protruding, beneath the hedge where Dallas Animal Control had been able to catch the smaller cobra sunning himself with a long pair of tongs a couple of days earlier, I got spooked a bit. Realizing that I was hyperventilating and, after squeezing under a 19” clearance beneath a beam, getting a little claustrophobic, I stopped to breathe for a moment. I knew the area residents were counting on me to do a thorough search, and the media was waiting to put a camera in my face. Clearly there was just no turning back. I spent three and a half hours down there, combing every accessible inch. There was a hole under the north wall leading to a probable cavity beneath the concrete porch of one unit there, and there were openings around plumbing everywhere. The venomous snakes native to Texas are not known to be strong climbers normally, but this cobra could have been anywhere in the walls or sub-floors through these openings. As little as I was looking forward to nabbing the animal in such a tight space, I was very unhappy to be forced to emerge without the snake in my bag. I did the interview, and then spent a good while educating the other homeowners about points of entry and how to find and seal them. I promised to return – something not a usual part of the Snake Removal inspection and removal service. If you follow our directives right away, your snake problem is usually over. This was something unique. Besides, the whole city now knew that it was me going after the thing. This was personal. There was potentially a food source (rodents) in the building, and two places underneath were slowly dripping neat little pools of fresh water. After a second crawl, I set a trap with two compartments for rats with food and water, with a one way door leading to each and glue boards surrounding the cage. A friend in the private investigation business set me up with a camera and monitor to watch the trap from above. A local homebody resident watched the “cobra-cam” several times a day and reported back to me. This went on another month. It should be noted that on the second day, I had built a barrier of plywood around the broken screen in the vent to the crawlspace, and had the property management guy cover all other openings with screen covers. One day I found that one of the covers had been removed, and the screen behind it had been cut and pulled open. I knew someone local had to be the owner, and that he had wanted his $600 snake back. On day one I had been told that two ground floor units would not allow an interior inspection, and one of them had a large dog carrier that locals had seen containing rabbits up until a day after the news story had broken. Things that make you go hmmm… I later learned that another resident had observed several glass tanks moved into the same space. Management discovered that the landlord who owned the space and was renting it out did not know of the roommate who had moved in the tanks – there was no one else on the lease. Next thing I knew, I was called in as an advisor as the landlord, two of Dallas’ finest, an animal control officer and yours truly appeared at the door of the condo in question. The roommate was the only one there, and upon finding that he was not on the lease, DPD forced entry. Shortly thereafter, everyone else backed up and let me remove what turned out to be 14 snakes. Included were one Monacled Cobra, one Black Forest Cobra, four Gaboon Vipers, a Rhinoceros Viper, a Desert Horned Viper, five kinds of rattlesnakes, and one really overfed Burmese Python – about 16 feet long. Faded newspaper articles on the wall showed that the roommate had run a side of the road attraction featuring snakes and sharks in Ft Lauderdale, Florida in the early eighties. Since Animal Control was confiscating the snakes but had only a dog wagon in which to transport them, I was instructed to transport everything but the big python in my van to the Dallas Zoo. Upon arrival there, I was out of the loop. The funny thing is that with so much coverage of the story making my face recognizable in the DFW area, almost no one seems to know how this story ended, because it happened to end on the day President Ronald Reagan died. Apparently, if you want to be news (not something I had set out to do in the first place) be news on a day when there is not much news. The guy pleaded with me not to divulge his name, which I didn’t, and won’t here. I knew however that the media would already have that info. Within a few hours of the original story, every network in town had my cell number, and I hadn’t given it out. I didn’t call any stations that day either, but they heard the police dispatch on the radio. A hurried news conference at the Dallas Zoo later, and it was all over. The guy in question was cited with 14 counts of possession of a prohibited animal by Dallas Animal Control, each carrying a penalty of $200 to $2000. I really felt sorry for the guy, his one escape had cost him maybe $10K in animals plus would soon cost whatever a judge assessed – but I have to say that in a couple of ways he was asking for it. The cages (except for the bird cages housing the rattlesnakes and the big python) had only heavy, weighted lids. No straps, no buckles, no locks. A really good Texas storm could have broken through the window on that side of the condo and knocked over a cage or two. I don’t know how the escape happened, but you have to have redundant safety measures in place to deal with hot snakes in captivity. Additionally, while the python looked more than a little powerfed to me, one of the Gaboons died the very next day in the Dallas Zoo hospital – of malnutrition. Keeping venomous snakes in captivity is a controversial subject, and for the most part I side with the keepers. Most are learned, responsible herpetoculturalists who take all the necessary precautions and pose no threat to humans. Indeed, even if you include the real boneheads out there, snake related injury and death numbers are dwarfed by dog and horse incidents each and every year in this country. Venom is meant for getting lunch, not for self defense. A hot snake only envenomates in self defense when it thinks something is trying to kill it. Knee-jerk reactions to news stories like these have led many cities to enact bans on keeping all kinds of snakes in captivity. Properly done, there is nothing wrong with having some of these amazing creatures become a part of your daily life. I’ve noticed that some municipalities have enacted bans on “constrictors.” That’s just silly. Every snake currently in my live presentations is a constrictor. The biggest ones are total sweethearts, patient enough for dozens of cubs scouts simultaneously (something most grownups aren’t) and the even cutest, tiniest little corn snake is a constrictor. It couldn’t draw blood if it bit you and it couldn’t squeeze your pinkie hard enough to turn it pink. Every society has a fringe element, people who go to extremes of one sort or another, and it makes no sense whatsoever to try to legislate these people into submission by restricting the activities and choices of everyone. The whole thing taught me a lot about the media and how the flow of public information works. So there you have the rest of the story. Thanks for stopping by. Daryl |
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