STAR-TELEGRAM (Dallas, Texas) 11 June 04 Missing cobra found in Dallas condo raid (J.D. Sparks)

Photo: Dallas Zoo reptile keeper Bradley Lawrence handles a rhino viper, one of several snakes seized Thursday, including a cobra reported to be on the loose in March.

Dallas: The hunt for a loose cobra ended Thursday near where it began in March at an Oak Lawn condominium complex, when Dallas police and animal control officers entered a unit and seized more than a dozen dangerous snakes, including the missing Suphan cobra.

Acting on a tip, officers entered the unit shortly after noon at Greenbriar Place in the 52000 block of Fleetwood Oaks Avenue. Police said they found stacks of glass and wire cages filled with rattlesnakes, vipers and one 15-foot Burmese python estimated to weigh between 140 and 160 pounds.

It took two men to remove the python.

"I saw wall-to-wall snakes," said Larry Sloop, the property maintenance coordinator. Sloop said residents cheered when the final snake was removed.

"This is the best day I've had," he said. "We're glad it's come to a good end."

Animal control officials said the owner of the snakes, whom officials would not identify, was a tenant of the condo's owner, who did not live there.

The unit's owner, Grady Coyle, voluntarily allowed officers to enter the condo, officials said.

Coyle said that he wedged his foot in the door when the snakes' owner opened it, allowing officers to get inside.

He said he was "flabbergasted" by what he saw.

Coyle said he agreed to let officers search his condo after hearing rumors of glass terrariums being unloaded from a truck and taken into the unit in the dead of night, and of caged rabbits being kept on the patio.

Coyle said he has not asked the tenants to move.

Possessing venomous snakes in Dallas carries a possible fine of up to $2,000, officials said. Police said Thursday that no citations have been issued but that the investigation is continuing.

Animal control officers removed 13 snakes, including the Suphan cobra that had been the subject of an intensive search since March when it and another Suphan cobra were spotted loose on the complex's grounds.

Besides the cobra and the python, snakes removed Thursday included three gaboon vipers, a rhino viper, a bush viper, a timber rattlesnake, a western diamondback rattlesnake, an eastern diamondback rattlesnake, one South American rattlesnake, a spitting cobra and a South American pit viper, said Ruston Hardtegen, a reptile curator for the Dallas Zoo, where the venomous reptiles were taken.

Animal control officers have custody of the python. They did not seize a pair of emperor scorpions in the raid.

Animal control supervisor Kenneth Watts said he was stunned by the collection of snakes in the unit.

"You normally don't expect to see vipers all over the place," he said. "It was the first time I've seen so many deadly snakes in one place. It was pretty shocking."

Herpetologist Daryl Sprout said a pirate's flag with skull and crossbones was draped over the python's cage.

Sprout said the animals appeared to be in good condition.

Hardtegen said the collection of snakes is valued at about $10,000.

Animal control officers captured one of the loose Suphan cobras in March as it sunned itself atop bushes outside the complex. Sprout, a snake removal expert who was called in to capture the other cobra, called off his search last month.

In the effort to catch the missing cobra -- estimated to be about 5 feet long at the time -- property managers closed vents along the crawl space and sealed gaps in the water pipes of the east end units of the complex.

Sprout said he had done everything he could to capture the snake. He made regular inspections, built a shelter, set bait and used video surveillance and professional trapping equipment, all to no avail.

A veteran snake handler with 25 years' experience, Sprout said at the time that something didn't add up.

He had discovered evidence of sabotage that had officials believing that someone else had taken the deadly cobra from beneath the building.

A sealed vent had been tampered with, its metal plate had been removed and its wire mesh had been sliced and pulled apart enough for the snake to slip through.

Sprout said he is glad the saga is over but is concerned about the possible fallout from the incident, such as increased regulations for snake handlers.

"I wish it could've gone down differently," he said. "But at least I did succeed. I'm no longer the guy who never caught the cobra."



HOUSTON CHRONICLE (Texas) 11 June 04 14 dangerous snakes seized in Dallas condo raid

Dallas (AP): Fourteen dangerous snakes have been seized in a raid on a Dallas condominium where the recent escape of two cobras drew national attention.

The snakes were found in glass cases in the living room of a unit at the Greenbriar Place Condos in the upscale Oak Lawn neighborhood, The Dallas Morning News reported in its editions today.

Thirteen of the snakes included a variety of venomous serpents, while the 14th was a 16-foot, 140-pound Burmese python, city officials said.

City officials haven't released the identity of the resident of the condo. They say the owner could face a citation for violating city codes. Each violations would be punishable by fines of up to $2,000.

The condo complex had been the site of a search for an escaped Suphan cobra. Two of the reptiles were spotted in the area recently. One was captured, but the other was never found.

Daryl Sprout, an independent herpetologist hired by managers of the complex to remove the snakes, told The Morning News that the missing snake could not have lived long on its own.

City officials say the condo owner denies any association with the escaped cobras.

The venomous snakes were taken to the Dallas Zoo, where they will be kept in quarantine at an animal hospital there.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/2622082
Missing cobra found in Dallas condo raid

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