Escaping From the Zoo

In late October, a seven-foot king cobra escaped from its glass enclosure at a zoo in Stockholm, Sweden.  The snake, named Sir Hiss, had only recently been moved into a new terrarium and escaped into the building at large by way of a light fixture in the ceiling.

Having had both a snake and a tarantula escape my own terrarium in the past, I can attest to the alarming nature of this.  More distressing here is the fact king cobras are deadly venomous.

King cobras can grow up to eighteen feet and are native to India, Indonesia and the Philippines.  The mostly cold and sterile indoor spaces into which Sir Hiss fled were not exactly ideal for a half-grown king cobra.   Moreover, outside the building, the oncoming Swedish winter made survival there impossible.

After several days, zoo officials using X-ray machines determined the snake had found refuge in an insulated space between two walls.  In an effort to encourage the snake to leave his hiding place, workers drilled a series of holes in the walls.  Soon after, the snake disappeared again.

Nearly a week after escaping, Sir Hiss appeared again.  Zoo workers discovered the snake had escaped back into his own terrarium.

The stories about my snake and spider ended somewhat differently.

—Mitchell Hegman

Source: AP News