THE STAR (Toronto, Ontario) 09 October 06 Snake in the wall unwanted boarder - Five professionals work to trap cobra - Tenants ordered to vacate rooming house (Michele Henry)
Until he came face to face with the cobra, Willy Ruppenstein didn't believe the reptile he'd heard crawling through the ceiling was anything to worry about.
But the burly resident of a west-end rooming house was shocked nearly two weeks ago to find a 1.5-metre snake hissing and darting its spiked tongue in his direction.
"I walked into the kitchen, moved the fridge and there she was — behind the fridge," Ruppenstein said. "I took a step forward. Then she spread out and I took a step back."
He immediately dialled his landlord, who called Toronto Animal Services. Since that harried moment, when police, fire and other emergency personnel rushed to the scene, a team of five professionals has been working to capture the scaly fugitive.
The brown and green snake has made its home inside the walls of 16 Church St., a semi-detached house near Weston Rd. and Lawrence Ave. W.
Plastered onto both front doors of the building is a sign, posted by Toronto Public Health, advising occupants they are prohibited from living there.
"It's an inconvenience," said Robert Gardner, one of the residents, who peers nervously into the house for any sign of the snake before scurrying inside for a moment to grab some of his belongings.
He, like the other five residents, has been stealing sleep wherever their landlord can find them a bed until everyone is permitted to return to their shared dwelling.
The reptile belonged to a family that lived in the adjoining home, police say, adding a municipal bylaw prohibits anyone from keeping such a venomous animal.
Bob Johnson, curator of reptiles at the Toronto Zoo, says catching the snake has become a waiting game.
"We can find it quickly by tearing down walls," he said, noting that would also destroy the house and so far has not been an option. "We're hoping the snake will come to us."
The venomous reptile, Johnson explains, poses a health and safety risk because if it becomes frightened it will bite. Its poison could potentially kill a human in hours. "They want to be left alone and they don't want to waste precious resources on something they can't eat," Johnson said, noting the zoo, which normally stores anti-venom, has given half its stock to animal services, in case the serum is needed in a hurry.
Philip Belanger, landlord of the rooming house, is taking this experience in stride.
He's had to release mice into the home as a snack for the snake, and his basement's been booby-trapped.
Officials have created an elaborate scheme to coax the reptile toward a heat lamp — cobras like to nestle against lights, says Johnson.
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TORONTO SUN (Ontario) 09 October 06 Pain in the asp - Cobra still hiding in apartment (Brodie Fenlon)
When a saw-scale viper bit a 26-year-old Barrie man on the thumb last month, a massive operation was launched to get antivenin from a New York zoo to his hospital.
Involved were the OPP, Health Canada, the Toronto Zoo, Air Canada and a curator from the Bronx Zoo, who flew to Canada with several ampoules of the antidote on the first flight he could find.
Now officials have torn apart a Weston rooming house looking for a cobra that appeared out of the blue Sept. 27 and has posed a major headache ever since for an innocent landlord and his displaced tenants.
Such are the costs of reckless exotic pet owners who own and trade venomous snakes despite municipal bylaws that make them illegal, said Bob Johnson, curator of reptiles at the Toronto Zoo.
"Some irresponsible person has caused this hardship for so many people ... There are breeders in Ontario who are breeding venomous snakes right now who are passing them on to young kids," he said.
"These aren't snake lovers. They aren't interested in conservation or snake welfare. They're just interested in profit or some other need they have. It's unfortunate."
There are no provincial or national laws restricting ownership of venomous snakes unless they're endangered.
Johnson has been involved in the Weston case, where a cobra appeared in a Church St. building near Weston Rd. owned by landlord Philip Belanger. It's believed the snake came from the neighbouring apartment in the semi-detached building, where Johnson and Toronto animal control officers pulled out a metre-long gaboon viper earlier this week.
Belanger, who's had to put up his boarders on his own dime, said the cobra was still missing yesterday. The house has been evacuated and holes have been punched in his ceiling and walls in an effort to spot the elusive reptile.
While the snake is believed to be a cobra, Johnson said it's "highly unlikely" it's a spitting cobra, as was reported by several media outlets, "because they're very accurate with their venom and this snake has been seen twice in the owner's house and the snake would have produced some venom at that point when it was agitated."
He also stressed that neighbours should not be concerned at this point.
In Barrie, the unnamed victim was treated and released from hospital.
http://torontosun.com/News/Canada/2006/10/09/1985159-sun.html

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