CITY NEWS (Toronto, Ontario) 07 October 06 Poisonous Snake On The Loose In Weston Rooming House

It's eight feet long, poisonous, and on the loose.

Residents of a rooming house in Weston have been forced out of their homes by a vicious cobra, which managed to escape its enclosure and is now on the loose inside the building.

The creature (similar to the one in the photo) is believed to belong to a 38-year-old man who lives there and owns several exotic pets. The threat posed by the silent slitherer was great enough that officials insisted people evacuate the building for safety reasons.

Area residents like Marilyn Engel were appalled to hear of the creature's getaway.

"How can someone have animals that are prohibited in a home and then cause all this chaos that, you know, the poor guys have got displaced and ... it's awful," Engel said before explaining to another person on the street, "Oh, it's just a snake loose in the house, an eight-foot snake."

Don Lambrigan, one of the affected rooming house occupants, confirmed that the reptile was still inside the building.

"The snake is still in there," he said. "It's a poison snake. It's a cobra."

It's apparently not the first time Animal Control has had to visit the home. A viper and a Komodo dragon - the world's largest lizard - were seized Friday, and last year a crocodile was reportedly removed from the residence.

Just last month a Barrie man had to be given anti-venom after being bitten by a friend's pet viper. Doctors had him under observation for 15 hours to see whether the poison had had any effects. Fortunately he didn't suffer any lasting health problems.

http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_4179.aspx



680 NEWS (Toronto, Ontario) 07 October 06 Spitting cobra on the loose in city's west end (Jason Satur)

A poisonous spitting cobra is on the loose in Toronto's west end.

As of late Saturday morning, Animal Control continued to catch the deadly snake roaming around a semi-detached home near Church and Weston.

Anti-venom for a bite from this particular type of snake isn't readily available in Canada according to police.

The snake is thought to be owned by a tenant in the home who once had a pet store.

Saturday's visit is not the first time Animal Control officials have been at the house. Last week they seized another snake and a komodo dragon.

http://www.680news.com/news/local/article.jsp?content=20061007_100943_4476

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