Morning Mix

A venom-spitting cobra terrorized Raleigh for days after escaping from a snake-filled home

By Katie Shepherd
July 2, 2021 at 5:44 a.m. EDT

During a three-day sojourn on the streets of northwest Raleigh, N.C., a dangerous, venom-spitting cobra sunned itself on porches and frightened the people who crossed its path as officials struggled to locate and trap the escaped pet.

The animal had slithered away from a nearby home where its owner, 21-year-old Cford.56" target="_blank">hristopher Gifford, keeps dozens of reptiles, including several species of venomous snakes that he shows off on his social media accounts. Gifford did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.

On Monday, a concerned citizen called 911 after spotting the unusual black-and-white striped snake on a porch in northwest Raleigh. ... “It looks like it’s actually a python,” the caller said. “This sounds crazy, but it looks like it’s a python from Australia.”

The evasive reptile was neither a python nor from Australia. Instead, the escape artist turned out to be a type of spitting cobra native to Africa. With photos and video of the snake, police identified the species as Naja nigricincta nigricincta, commonly known as a zebra cobra, which can be found in parts of Namibia and Angola.

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North Carolina allows residents to own venomous snakes without a permit as long as they keep the animals in “escape-proof” and “bite-proof” enclosures with locks.

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By Katie Shepherd
Katie Shepherd is a reporter on The Washington Post's Morning Mix team. Before joining The Post, she was a staff writer at Willamette Week in Portland, Ore. Twitter https://twitter.com/katemshepherd