Snake eyes? Raleigh mulls rules after cobra escapes

Imagine that one of your neighbors informs you, that, oh, by the way, a venomous pet snake of his has gone missing and you might want to keep an eye out.

But not to worry, he adds. The 74 other snakes in his collection — including pythons, vipers, rattlesnakes and a green mamba — are present and accounted for … last time he looked.

This is pretty much what happened in Raleigh in late June.

Twenty-one-year-old Christopher Gifford lost a zebra cobra that eventually was caught in somebody else’s yard.

But not before causing palpitations among neighbors who didn’t know what might be lurking in their hedges and rose bushes.

Making matters worse, Gifford reported the AWOL reptile to police in June, but it had been missing since November.

This means the snake, which was caught three days after Gifford told authorities, had been on the lam for more than seven months.

Gifford was charged with 40 misdemeanors, all of which were dropped except one on Aug. 6 as part of a plea deal. He received probation and was ordered to pay the cost to taxpayers of finding and capturing the snake, which totaled slightly more than $13,000.

He also agreed to give up his snake collection, which was valued at $35,000.

And he said he was sorry.

A neighbor who was present in the courtroom during sentencing shook her head after Gifford had squirmed free of more serious consequences.

“I think he got off very lightly,” she said.

Just so you know, a zebra cobra is no run-of-the-mill venomous snake. Native to the deserts of southern Africa, it spits its venom, very accurately, up to a range of nine feet. Its toxins can cause blindness, paralysis and massive hemorrhaging.

The AWOL reptile in Raleigh sparked a panic and generated national publicity for Gifford, as if he needed any.

Video footage of his extensive menagerie of fanged slitherers had earned him 460,000 followers on TikTok long before news of the Great Escape had broken.

Of course, the fugitive snake story raises many questions:

Why would someone collect 75 snakes?

Where were Gifford’s parents?

Did they ever consider for a moment that maybe their son owning a personal collection of deadly reptiles wasn’t such a good idea?

And isn’t there a law against it?

We can only guess the answers to the first three questions. As for the fourth, no. There isn’t a statewide law against owning venomous snakes in North Carolina. Ours is, in fact, one of only six states nationwide that neither bans private ownership of venomous snakes nor requires a permit to do so.

State law does spell out specific rules and regulations for owning snakes. But that’s it.

It’s part of a familiar pattern. For some reason North Carolina has traditionally been a soft touch when it comes both to legislating against animal cruelty and banning ownership of exotic (read: dangerous) animals. Freedom? Liberty? (We’re hearing that a lot these days.) People have been maimed and killed, still most state lawmakers have kept a safe distance from the issue. North Carolina is one of only four states that have no statewide laws on private ownership of exotic animals, from lions to tigers to boa constrictors. Such regulations are left to each county.

Fortunately, an ordinance in Guilford County decrees that “any exotic animal deemed to be a dangerous wild animal … shall not be permitted” with the exception of zoos and other authorized facilities. This includes wolves, panthers, alligators, crocodiles … and venomous snakes.

As for Raleigh, the City Council is discussing an ordinance that would tighten animal restrictions there. But so far they haven’t voted on a new law proposed by city staff.

One point of disagreement over the proposed ordinance is that it bans the feeding of feral cats.

There has been similar scratching and clawing in recent years over the same issue in Greensboro. Take it from us: It’s not a discussion for the meek.

One Raleigh resident who does favor feeding felines in the wild threatens to defy the law if the new ordinance passes as it is currently written.

She’s the mayor, Mary-Ann Baldwin, who regularly gives food to a feral cat in her neighborhood.

“I tell you what,” Baldwin said earlier this week, “I would still feed that feral cat and let you fine me — so there.”

For now the draft ordinance has been sent to committee for further study.

Which means the next time you’re in the capital city, better watch your step.

— Greensboro News & Record, Aug. 19