Stockholm’s fugitive king cobra found hiding in wall cavity
While Thailand suffers a plague of serpents, driven out of their natural hiding places by recent flooding, a king cobra, broke out of a new enclosure in a Swedish zoo only days after it arrived. The frightened reptile was found early on Thursday morning, hiding only a few metres from its enclosure.
The reptile escaped by squirming through a light fixture and swinging itself to freedom. It was suspected that the cobra was likely to conceal itself in the ceiling of the reptile enclosure.
Skansen Aquarium deputy chief Ana Wahlström said…
“Skansen Zoo in Stockholm has been forced to close down some areas onsite after a deadly King Cobra known as Sir Hiss, fled from its new home. He has now been missing for 48 hours.”
Staff tried a number of different strategies over the past two days to capture the slithery escapee including using flour to capture its trails, glue traps and hidden cameras.
Aquarium director Jonas Wahlström said…
“He won’t come out. In theory, it’s so cold outside that he would fall asleep.”
The king cobra which escaped from its cage at the aquarium on Saturday has now been located, hiding in a wall cavity.
Ana Wahlström said…
“We are now working on trying to get him out and will provide an update as soon as we have caught him. As you might understand, that’s what’s preoccupying us right now and we won’t have much time to comment while we are devoting all our energy to getting the snake back in.”
Jonas Wahlström, the aquarium’s owner, said the snake was located using cameras…
“What we’re doing now is making a bigger hole, so we can get him out without causing him any injuries, so we’re hoping to get him out today. It will probably happen today. He’s going to be thirsty, so I think he’ll be happy to be coming out.”
