After nearly a week of panic and pun-filled stories, Cobra Watch 2011: Black Adder's Revenge—A Bronx Zoo Tale! has finally come to an end. The Egyptian Cobra who had gone missing last Friday was found "alive and well" yesterday by Bronx Zoo employees inside a nonpublic area of the zoo’s Reptile House, not far from where she disappeared. The two-foot-long lady is back in her cage now, but she wrote us that she was plotting her escape once again: "I plan to rally my Bronx Zoo Cobra Nation and send a clear message that I, even while incarcerated, can reach outside this Reptile House and make my presence known."
We won't be a rattle-tail about who is behind the Bronx Zoos Cobra Twitter/Email, but her last tweet backs this up: "Just regurgitated my iPhone. Oh, it's ssso on now. You'll never guess what's coming. #freethebronxzooscobra." Zoo officials said the Reptile House would remain closed for several days while they investigated how the snake had gotten free...since Bronx Zoo Director Jim Breheny admitted on "The Early Show" this morning that they still weren't exactly sure how she esssssssssscaped.
Some of the cobra's Twitter followers were disappointed that she wasn't really having a whirlwind adventure around the city during her escape: "Wait...the snake just April fooled us all. He was hiding at the zoo all along," tweeted CaMacKid. "The Bronx Zoo snake never made it out of the zoo. Bigger disappointment than balloon boy," tweeted sarahplease. Others were convinced that this was a publicity stunt by the Bronx Zoo, which Breheny denied this morning: "Obviously, that certainly wasn't our intent with this whole thing. We were honest and, when we issued the statement, we knew it was going to be news. But we were, I think, taken aback by the sensation of the social media. And you know, although we appreciated everyone's goodwill toward us and support, I mean, we were concentrating on recovering the animal. Because it was a serious situation. "
So what's next for the cool-headed cobra? Since she hasn't been named yet, the News announced that they are going to have a naming contest in conjunction with the zoo, with details to be announced soon.
As for her own asp-irations, Animal Planet announced today that they are planning to air a two-hour documentary on the snake, and it is absolutely positively undoubtedly not an April Fool's Day joke. As for the media, they'll have to go back to reporting on much slower news.
