February 11, 2009 10:44 PM
Elmo: A Serpentine Mystery
Calm down. Elmo the snake is not venomous. But he is somewhat unruly.
Elmo managed to escape owner Karen Moran while she was drawing his bath. "I let him go in the bedroom [on the second floor] and went back in five minutes, and he had escaped through the screen," she explained.
Correspondent Mark Sanchez of CBS affiliate KOIN in Troutdale, Ore., reports that Elmo's odyssey included a brief incarceration with officials from the local Animal Control, who could not figure out what kind of a snake Elmo is.
After calling in a snake expert, they got some good news. Elmo, a member of the gopher snake family, may seem intimidating. But he is not poisonous. In the meantime, Animal Control agents followed such snake-handling guidelines as "don't squeeze it too hard and don't make threatening gestures; otherwise, it might bite you or it might poop on you."
It's no wonder that Elmo's appearance stumped the folks at Animal Control. Such snakes are natives of Florida, not the Northwest. John Rowton of Animal Control says Elmo's adventure illustrates why ownership of exotic pets should be restricted. After all, he reasons, if the professionals had to call in a snake expert to identify Elmo, then uninformed citizens might be in danger, if they don't realize an animal can be dangerous.
As for Elmo, he was returned to his owner, and Moran says her pet's rambling days are over.
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| News About Animals |
Correspondent Mark Sanchez of CBS affiliate KOIN in Troutdale, Ore., reports that Elmo's odyssey included a brief incarceration with officials from the local Animal Control, who could not figure out what kind of a snake Elmo is.
After calling in a snake expert, they got some good news. Elmo, a member of the gopher snake family, may seem intimidating. But he is not poisonous. In the meantime, Animal Control agents followed such snake-handling guidelines as "don't squeeze it too hard and don't make threatening gestures; otherwise, it might bite you or it might poop on you."
It's no wonder that Elmo's appearance stumped the folks at Animal Control. Such snakes are natives of Florida, not the Northwest. John Rowton of Animal Control says Elmo's adventure illustrates why ownership of exotic pets should be restricted. After all, he reasons, if the professionals had to call in a snake expert to identify Elmo, then uninformed citizens might be in danger, if they don't realize an animal can be dangerous.
As for Elmo, he was returned to his owner, and Moran says her pet's rambling days are over.
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