This story is courtesy of our sister station, KXAN, in Austin, TX.
AUSTIN (KXAN) — As authorities wait on an official cause of death for a teenager who might have died from a snake bite, the Austin Animal Protection Office says the public need not worry anymore since they found the victim’s Monocled Cobra early Friday morning.
Around 2:40 a.m. on Friday, a 911 caller said he found a dead snake on the side of the frontage road of Interstate 35, right in front of Lowe’s and CarMax.
“When I got the call, I was greatly relieved, obviously,” says Mark Sloat, Austin Animal Protection Supervisor. “I kind of wish the snake was alive, but for the public’s sake — the fact that we found it. This is a busy area, a lot of cars parked here already, so the public definitely could have been at risk with this snake.”
Even though the snake is dead, Sloat says the snake will be held as evidence until they determine what killed the victim.
On Tuesday night, 18-year-old Grant Thompson, of Temple, was found in the parking lot of the Lowe’s with possible snake puncture wounds. Thompson died a short time later at a nearby hospital. Authorities say one of Thompson’s Cobra snakes was missing from its cage in his Temple home.
Austin Animal Protection Office were originally planning to search the Lowe’s parking lot on Friday morning.
In case anyone is worried there might be another Monocled Cobra creeping around Austin, they need not worry.
“I think the chances of it being another Monocled Cobra at the very Lowe’s where the incident in the car happened is pretty slim,” explains Sloat.
