The Cobra has been Found!

As Renee mentioned in class today, the cobra that escaped from the Bronx Zoo has a Twitter account. But, I don't know how much longer the account will remain active, because the missing cobra has been found alive and well today.

I wanted to give everyone some background on this situation – the 20-inch Egyptian Cobra escaped on Friday, March 25^th sometime in the afternoon. Cobras are known to be uncomfortable in public areas, so officials knew the cobra was most likely to be in a non-public area of the reptile house; and that’s just where officials found the serpent this morning. This snake could have killed a human with venom in 15 minutes. 

Now onto the cobra’s Twitter account – known as BronxZoosCobra, the person behind the account tweeted about the snake's escapades in the Big Apple. The only user BronxZoosCobra is following is TheBronxZoo. The location is listed as, “I’m not at the Bronx Zoo.” The bio states, “I’m an Egyptian cobra out on the town.” This cobra was also smart enough to make a gmail account! As of now, there is no immediate comment from the person who was sending messages via Twitter as the snake, who attracted 217,046 followers when I checked tonight. Apparently, the snake’s last adventure was attending the New York Yankee’s Opening Day baseball game.

My top three favorite tweets the 'cobra' posted included:

·         ‘If you see a bag of peanuts inexplicably moving along the ground at Yankee Stadium today. Just ignore it. It’s probably nothing.’

·          ‘Anyone know if Rebecca Black lives in NYC? No reason.’

·         ‘Dear @CharlieSheen, know what’s better than tiger’s blood? Cobra venom. #winning #snakeonthetown Also I’m 20 inches long. Just sayin’.’

Big props to whoever is behind the Twitter account; you have managed to gain a massive amount of publicity through news stations, newspapers, blogs, etc. Also, you have managed to create quite the flurry during this six day missing spree. This frenzy also created a Facebook page to get the Bronx Zoo Cobra to host SNL. I would like you to reveal yourself and shake your hand. You are one funny person. Unfortunately, your time in the public eye may be short-lived because following a cobra who is back in the cage just won’t be as entertaining. 

I hope the zoo officials make sure the snake cages are a little more secure this time around, but for now, rest easy Bronx residents.