Published 23 October 2022 at 16.29
Domestic. One of the world's most poisonous snakes, a king cobra, escaped from its terrarium at Skansenakvariet on Saturday. It has not yet been found.
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Skansenakvariet first tried to cover up what happened, but the news leaked to Aftonbladet on Saturday via employees.
On Sunday, Skansenakvariet announced that they had still not caught the snake, which is 2.2 meters long and life-threatening.
Jonas Wahlström at the Skansenakvariet, however, tries to reassure the public in an interview with state broadcaster SVT. There he states that you know “roughly” where the snake is and, in addition, according to him, the snake is not dangerous to humans.
– This is a cunning type of snake, but these in particular are very calm and used to people – so it doesn't hunt people, says Wahlström.
The reason the cobra was able to escape was that Skansen has chosen not to have escape-proof terrariums for its venomous snakes. Among other things, they have refrained from screwing the fluorescent light fixtures to the ceiling of the terrarium, so the snake could therefore lift a light fixture and crawl out onto the interior ceiling of the building.
– It was a cunning king cobra that escaped through a lamp fixture, which we had not expected. But this new cobra was able to push the lamp up onto the roof, says Jonas Wahlström.
Whether anyone actually saw that the snake was still on the inner ceiling, or even in the building, is not clear. Wahlström only tells SVT that they “roughly” know where the snake is, without explaining what that means.
It is not the first time that Skansenakvariet's safety has been called into question. In 2019, a 75-year-old visitor was badly bitten by a crocodile, which led to the business being reported to the police for causing bodily harm.