escaped baby cobra in german city found death after 3 weeks

the german news seem to be full of the story, 3 weeks ago, a baby cobra was on the loose.
german officials evacuated the whole house and even blocked the Road...

well, long story short:

the geniuses from the town and their special reptile group from the local fire fighters try to starve the animal to death, lol.
all folks out of the house, everything was sealed, the apartment from the snake lover nearly totally destroyed and then, they keep waiting.
now, 3 weeks later they found the hatchling, stuck on a tesa...

the town said, the search and rescue action is around 100.000 euros, the receipt will be represented to the guy who let the snake escape in the first place....

the link to the german online newspaper:
http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/0,1518,687952,00.html

well, our hobby surely is expensive from time to time...

cheers
Mario

Sad for two reasons:
Sad for the snake.
Sad for our hobby which again had bad news in the public ...

Although the bad press is indeed not good for the hobby, I really like the fact that the bill for the "search and rescue" operation is being presented to the perpetrator. Good on the city fathers, perhaps there is an intellegent politician out there after all. I wish them luck collecting it. Wonder how they will prove that the dead cobra was indeed his.

Wow thats a first timer for me.
They really take it seriously. Is that typical protocol in Germany? Or is that the first time you have heard of such drastic action being taken on a venomous escapee?

Mario Lutz wrote:: the town said, the search and rescue action is around 100.000 euros, the receipt will be represented to the guy who let the snake escape in the first place....

Hmmm.... although that is entirely right and justified in one sense, I wonder how that prospect will affect the decisions made by the next person who "loses" a venomous snake in an apartment block... He did the right thing in alerting the authorities, and penalising responsible behaviour might have higher costs at some point in the future.

Wolfgang Wüster wrote:

Mario Lutz wrote:: the town said, the search and rescue action is around 100.000 euros, the receipt will be represented to the guy who let the snake escape in the first place....

Hmmm.... although that is entirely right and justified in one sense, I wonder how that prospect will affect the decisions made by the next person who "loses" a venomous snake in an apartment block... He did the right thing in alerting the authorities, and penalising responsible behaviour might have higher costs at some point in the future.

Damn good point Wolfgang. My point was only to show that people who allow venomous snakes, tigers, bad dogs etc. etc. must be held responsible. It occurs too frequently. Will the next guy that "loses" a hot snake just keep quiet about it now? Let's hope not, but we know that the scenario will be repeated.

Rob Deans wrote:: Is that typical protocol in Germany?

Yes. Germans, Austrians and especially Swiss authorities are really rigid in cases of security.

very good thought wolfgang , cause i am sure the next guy wont call the cops when his naja or other venemous snake escapes .
but the whole story was a sad proove once again how easy it is to get your hands on such animals , a 19 year old guy his 2nd snake all to gehter and he buys a cobra , not to mention the fact that he lives on wellfare .

as for the responding of the officials , i would wish they d call someone with knowledge next time then the snake could still be alive in responsable hands

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