King Cobras are the largest venomous snakes on the planet, and they can grow up to a ridiculous 18-feet in length. They are not native to American soil and the only place you can really find one is inside of a zoo.
The fact that King Cobras have no place in the Americas didn’t stop someone from trying to sneak five of the snakes, and some illegal geckos, into the United States by mailing them from Hong Kong. Customs and Border Patrol officers at JFK airport’s mail division in NYC intercepted the package marked as ‘plastic tray’ after an X-Ray showed the venomous snakes on the monitor:
On June 29, CBP officers assigned to the IMF conducted an examination of express mail from Hong Kong. The contents of one package were described as a “plastic tray,” but an x-ray showed what appeared to be snakes in a round container.
CBP contacted the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to examine the package further. The outer box was carefully opened, revealing a styrofoam casing with rows of holes. FWS determined that the package did contain live snakes. The parcel contained five juvenile King Cobras and three Geckos. CBP seized the package and turned it over to FWS for further investigation. (via CBP.gov)
Soooo, do they kill the snakes in this situation? Are they sold to a zoo? Anyone know what happens from here? I’d be shocked if they didn’t kill the cobras because of the threat they pose but it also seems like it’d be fucked up to kill them when they could easily be sent to a zoo…Anyone know?