RALEIGH, N.C. – The drama surrounding a zebra cobra that escaped from a home in a northwest Raleigh neighborhood last week may be dying down, but the debate over the call for stricter laws governing the ownership of venomous snakes is just starting.
North Carolina has no laws against keeping, breeding or selling non-native venomous reptiles — only rules about how those animals should be housed and transported and about notifying local law enforcement if the animal escapes. (Keeping native venomous reptiles, such as rattlesnakes, cottonmouths and copperheads, does require a permit from the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission.)
Christopher Gifford, 21, of Raleigh faces 40 charges connected to the escape of his zebra cobra and the improper housing of other venomous snakes in his home. But all of the charges are misdemeanors.
The missing snake was reported to police after being spotted on the porch of a home about a half-mile from Gifford’s home on Monday, June 28, and captured at the same home on Wednesday, June 30.
Gifford has been under a spotlight since the search for his snake began. His social media accounts revealed he was keeping dozens of deadly reptiles in the basement of the home owned by his parents.
Raleigh Police have so far not answered questions from the media about when or how the zebra cobra escaped and whether or not any of Gifford’s other venomous snakes were removed from his possession.
‘Outdated’ laws
On July 2, two days after the cobra was captured by animal control agents, Democratic state Sen. Jay Chaudhuri of Raleigh sent an email calling for the General Assembly to look at amending the state’s laws on keeping venomous snakes.
This week, Raleigh City Council member David Knight said he would propose an ordinance that would restrict ownership of “wild dangerous animals” in Raleigh, including but not limited to venomous snakes. Knight said he is working with the city’s legal team to figure out the best way forward, but aims to propose the ordinance when the council returns from its break in mid-August.
In a council meeting Tuesday evening, Knight called the cobra escape a “consequence of irresponsible, reckless and dangerous behavior.”
Now, state Sen. Wiley Nickel, a Democrat who represents Wake County and the area of Raleigh where the snake escape occurred, says he is planning to introduce legislation for a new state law in as little as two weeks, describing the incident as “a wake-up call.”
“I just had no idea that our laws were so outdated and that we had so little in the way of regulations,” Nickel told The News & Observer on Wednesday. “So we’re taking a good look at how other states approach this right now. But it’s clear that we need to do much more to keep people safe.”
Nickel said after last week’s cobra search he heard from a number of constituents who were concerned about their safety.
“You had a whole neighborhood that was essentially shut down,” Nickel said. “People were afraid to go out of their homes, and then you look at laws and we have virtually no regulation for this kind of thing.
“We’ve got enough going on in the world right now where people shouldn’t have to worry about a neighbor with 70 dangerous venomous snakes living next to them.”
Nickel said his staff is just starting the process of researching what a new law might look like, studying states like Florida, which has robust laws regulating keeping dangerous animals; and South Carolina, which has lax laws, similar to those in North Carolina, but which has taken steps this year to try to change that. (An effort by South Carolina to change dangerous animal laws this year failed, but at least one legislator there has said they will try again.)
Nickel said some of the things they are looking at for a “prohibition against non-native dangerous snakes” include insurance requirements, a grandfather clause and robust reporting requirements.
“If someone has 70 snakes in their basement, you ought to be able to go online and find that out,” Nickel said.
“We’re just starting this process now, and hoping to have a bill in the next week or two.”
The law in other areas
South Carolina’s minimal laws against keeping non-native venomous animals has led to a problem with black market wildlife trading there.
South Carolina’s state House approved a bill in May that would require owners of venomous snakes to register their animals. Under that bill, owners of venomous snakes would not be allowed to register new ones once the first snakes die, a move that would act as an eventual ban.
But that bill did not pass the state Senate.
Rep. Bill Hixon, R-Aiken, told a reporter for The State newspaper in Columbia last week that he hopes the legislation will pass early next year.
”We are going to do something when we come back,’‘ he said. “We were scared to death for people’s safety.”
In North Carolina, some counties and municipalities have passed their own ordinances to regulate the keeping or handling of dangerous wildlife.
Nearby Orange County has a local law that makes it illegal to “keep, shelter, feed, harbor, or take care of any wild and dangerous animal” within the county, including reptiles which are “poisonous, crushing or giant.” Violating those rules in Orange County could result in misdemeanor charges and fines.
There are no rules in Durham County prohibiting keeping wild and dangerous animals.
