A venomous rattlesnake missing from Zoo Atlanta for three days was found dead Monday morning on the front porch of a vacant house a few blocks away.
“We are grateful the snake was found,” said Raymond King, president and CEO of Zoo Atlanta. “We are conducting a thorough review of the incident to ensure all appropriate adjustments to procedures and protocols occur.”
The adult female tiger rattlesnake was discovered missing from its cage Friday. Zoo officials had been looking in vain until Monday morning, when they received a call from someone on Atlanta Avenue who said they spotted the snake.
Zoo visitors over the weekend were unaware that the dangerous reptile was missing.
“We had no idea. I didn’t see any signs or anything, not even at the reptile exhibit,” said Nancy Fowler, who brought her three children to the zoo.
It’s unclear how the snake got loose. Zoo spokeswoman Keisha Hines told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution the nocturnal snake was believed to be still inside the building where she was housed, which is not accessible to the public. But Hines could not say why staff thought the snake was still in that building. Hines said signs warning the public were thus not needed.
Fowler and her husband drove an hour from Euharlee, near Cartersville, to bring their three children to see the two-month old giraffe. They didn’t know about the loose snake until they heard another parent ask a zookeeper about it.
“We had fun, but wish we would have known,” said Fowler, who worried about the safety of her children ages 7, 4 and 11 months. “Thankfully, we didn’t see it. I don’t want them to get bit.”
David McLeod, owner of Georgia Wildlife Services, said tiger snakes, which are native to the southwest and Central America, are very dangerous.
“They are real toxic,” he said. “Even if you survive the bite, the greatest risk is losing parts of the body like fingers, hands from the death of the tissue.”
McLeod said he has removed pythons and other large snakes, along with raccoons, bats and other critters from many north Georgia homes. Snakes are one of the hardest animals to catch, he said.
“They have a slower metabolism rate so they spend the bulk of the time digesting meals,” he told the AJC. “If it catches a large rat, it may go two-three weeks without a meal.”
That digestion and nap time is usually spent curled up in a dark hidden place, like under a bush or furniture.
“A search for a snake like that is tough because you first got to locate all their hiding places, looking in all kinds of cracks and crevices,” he said.
McLeod said it is possible to trap a snake using a box with some type of glue or small mouse as bait.
Christine Hanson’s two daughters wanted to help catch the snake. Mom wanted no part of it.
“I kept asking ‘did you find it? Did you find it?,’” said Hanson, of Lawrenceville. “They said it’s way in the back. We took the train ride and looked for it.”
The at-large snake also didn’t deter crowds from the nearby Summer Shade Festival at Grant Park.
Beth Ann Trammell, who ran a booth selling knitted baby clothes, said she heard about the snake from friends and was surprised the festival was still going on.
“No one’s mentioned it and business has been pretty good,” said Trammell, owner of Burly Bunny in Montgomery, Ala. “But I’ve spent all day listening for a rattle.”
The zoo obtained the snake from the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife, Hines said.