MODESTO BEE (California) 07 May 04 Package turns out to hold deadly spitting cobra (Julissa McKinnon)

Manteca: A black, venom-spitting cobra is one package Angela Cuellar refused to handle. One minute the United Parcel Service storekeeper was lending a customer a box-cutter.

The next, Cuellar was staring at a viper lashing against the plastic cage that contained it.

The snake that emerged in her store April 30 was a "black-necked spitting cobra," a venomous species native to the dry grasslands of Africa. The viper spits a paralyzing venom to stun its prey -- a poison that can cause blindness and be life-threatening to humans, according to information on several cobra Web sites.

The snake that visited the UPS store was originally sent to zoology buff Kevin Peters of Manteca from a snake vendor in South Carolina. The serpent was tightly packed into a 3-inch-high, 8-inch-square plastic container that was dripping with venom, Cuellar said.

Peters was almost as stunned as Cuellar to find one of the world's most deadly snakes inside the box. Peters had ordered two nonvenomous pythons online, not a cobra, according to Manteca police.

"When I saw it I got freaked out. I wanted to jump into the rafters. It gave me the chills," Cuellar said. "I've seen snakes dead and stuffed, but when you see one moving all over the place and spitting, that's where I have to draw the line."

Five police cars, three ambulances and two animal control trucks rushed to the UPS store to extract the serpent from the busy shopping plaza on South Main Street.

Manteca's Animal Control stored the viper in a cardboard box for about two hours before the Department of Fish and Game picked it up, said animal control officer Cindy Schick.

Peters was given the option of donating the snake to a zoo, giving it up for research or having it destroyed. He chose the latter, according to Fish and Game Capt. Dennis DeAnda.

The snake's body is being held for evidence.

Venomous snakes are one of thousands of exotic species outlawed in California.

The shipment of the cobra also violated the federal Lacey Act that forbids the import, export, transport, sale, or receipt of any illegally acquired wildlife, according to Manteca police. The misdemeanor is punishable with up to one year in prison and $5,000 in fines, he said.

DeAnda declined to disclose the sender's name because he said the incident is still under investigation.

Meanwhile, Cuellar said she's still having nightmares about snakes, reminiscent of the horror flick "Anaconda."

"Every time someone walks in with a package, let me tell you something, I'm watching," Cuellar said.

Tara Gonzales, the DHL-Airborne Express courier who delivered the package, said she dropped off the box without ever suspecting a live animal lurked within -- a violation of Airborne Express rules, she said.

It wasn't until stopping at the UPS store to load the afternoon mail that Gonzales learned from Cuellar that she had delivered a viper.

"The weird thing is I didn't even know what I had delivered. It's kind of scary," Gonzales said, pausing a moment before running to her mail truck. "I'm more cautious. I pay more attention to what I'm putting in my van now."
Package turns out to hold deadly spitting cobra

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