King cobra escapes and shuts down Swedish zoo. A Swedish zoo has locked down part of its facility after an eight-foot-long king cobra escaped its enclosure on Saturday. The slithery reptile — named Sir Vass, which translates to “Sir Hiss” — had arrived at the Skansen Aquarium in Stockholm days before his disappearing act, according to a Facebook post from the facility.
Visitors managed to film everything; therefore, the escape was discovered immediately, the zoo shared, adding that the venomous snake escaped by finding a way through the light fixture in its enclosure. Shortly after the snake got out, an alarm went off to alert visitors to vacate the premises.
One of the visitors who recorded Sir Hiss’s escape posted their clip to YouTube. Keepers believe the snake was able to escape due to a space in the ceiling left by new LED lamps that are smaller and give off less heat than the lights previously used in that snake enclosure.
On Tuesday, Skansen Aquarium shared that staff members are still looking for the snake, but the zoo is confident that the reptile will be found. We currently have a good idea in what space the snake is; it is quite large, and the search is progressing,” according to the Facebook post from the zoo. The post continued, “The snake is in an area where there are no ways out.”
Skansen Aquarium added that Sir Hiss is unlikely to venture outside since temperatures are hovering around the mid-40s in Stockholm, and king cobras don’t seek out cold weather. Jonas Wahlstrom, director of the Skansen Aquarium, told AFP that king cobras are “typically quite calm and unlikely to attack.”
According to National Geographic, they are among the most venomous snakes on the planet and “can literally ‘stand up’ and look a full-grown person in the eye.” Still, they tend to avoid humans whenever possible.
A Swedish amusement park has been partially shut down after a king cobra staged an impressive escape from its enclosure. Staff at the Skansen Aquarium are still trying to locate the snake, who was previously named Sir Vas (Sir Hiss) but has now been renamed Houdini after the famed escape artist.
