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WGCL (Atlanta, Georgia) 28 August 10 Atlanta Zoo Releases Public Apology In Rattlesnake’s Escape (Tony McNary)
Atlanta: The Atlanta Zoo released a public apology about the recent incident of a tiger rattlesnake’s escape.
President and CEO Raymond B. King says he was disappointed and embarrassed by the incident. King said they zoo will be re-evaluating procedures and protocols regarding animal management.
Marie Mower lives across the street from Zoo Atlanta. Mower said she walked out on her porch with her young son on Sunday and spotted a rattlesnake.
Mower said the snake was curled up in a corner on her porch.
"That's the disturbing part is the thought that we were standing out here and if he(her son) had walked over that way, you know, he could be dead right now," said Mower.
Mower said when she spotted the snake, she had no clue it was a venomous snake that had escaped from the Atlanta Zoo.
"So I went inside and told my husband there's a rattlesnake on the porch, and so he got a long piece of board and killed it," said Mower.
Zoo officials said they discovered on Thursday, that a Tiger Rattlesnake had escaped it's cage that was left unsecured.
People who live around the zoo said officials did not warn the about the snake.
"I would definitely like more notification. Even if they need to have somebody knocking door-to-door. This was a very dangerous situation. Like I said, she (her child) was out playing in the grass. She could have easily ran up on it -- one bite she could have been dead," said Tiffany Lankford.
CBS Atlanta took our tough questions to the zoo's president.
"Why didn't you alert the neighbors?" asked reporter Tony McNary.
Raymond King said the zoo alerted the Grant Park Neighborhood Association.
"We could not have probably gone door-to-door to every house in the neighborhood. In hindsight, if we had to do it again we probably would have gone and knocked on doors on Atlanta Road," said King.
Atlanta road is the road the snake crossed and found its way on Mower's front porch.
"It's disturbing! I think that if we had had some notice maybe we would have been on the lookout a little more, but we never would have expected a snake from the zoo being able to get up here on the front porch," said Mower.
Zoo Releases Public Apology In Rattlesnake’s Escape

JOURNAL CONSTITUTION (Atlanta, Georgia) 13 September 10 In wake of snake escape, DNR advises Zoo Atlanta to review protocols (Christian Boone)
A state Department of Natural Resources team that investigated Zoo Atlanta following last month's escape of a venomous rattlesnake confirmed human error was to blame.
The tiger snake ended up roughly 100 yards away on the front porch of a Grant Park couple, where it was clubbed to death by homeowner Guy Mower. His 2-1/2 year-old son was the first person to encounter the nocturnal viper but was unharmed.
The caretaker responsible for the reptiles "failed to secure the enclosure containing the tiger rattlesnake," DNR Wildlife Resources Division assistant chief John Bowers wrote Monday in a letter to Dwight Lawson, the zoo's deputy director. "This allowed the tiger rattlesnake to escape into the quarantine building and because the building was also being used to hold a small mammal that had access to an outside enclosure, the tiger rattlesnake was able to escape the building."
The employee in question was disciplined, Lawson said. The snake -- which has a toxicity considered the highest of all rattlesnake venom -- was loose for one day, though the zoo didn't learn of its whereabouts until three days after it escaped.
"Specifically, it is critical that all reptile enclosures or containers be secured with a locking mechanism that prevents the animal from escaping," Bowers wrote.
As for the other holding facilities, the zoo met or exceeded minimum standards, the DNR team concluded.
In wake of snake escape, DNR advises Zoo Atlanta to review protocols