Cobra caught inside Houston downtown high-rise

Adam Bennett | KHOU-TV, Houston

Show Caption Hide Caption Cobra caught in luxury apartment hallway A cobra was spotted wandering the halls of the Rice lofts in downtown Houston. Residents took pictures and videos before a pest control company got there to remove it.

HOUSTON — It's the last thing you want to see when coming home from a long day at work.

A cobra was spotted wandering the halls of the Rice lofts Saturday night in downtown Houston.

"It was sort of just hanging out in the middle of the hallway," resident Ethan Shear. "It had raised its head a little bit like you would see in Indiana Jones or something. Enough to know: 'I should not go near that.'"

A quick walk to his car turned into a heart-stopping encounter for Shear.

"I turn the corner I hear a guy scream 'Watch out,' and there's a cobra, and I just back up," Shear said. "I may have let out an expletive or two."

Shear says he backed up, and then took a picture.

"I thought, 'If I don't take a picture, who's gonna believe me?' And then, went on with my day."

Resident Colby Lewis says someone ran up to him and a group he was with and told them to call the police because they were almost bitten by a cobra.

Lewis said at first he thought they were joking, but when he went upstairs to the third floor of the buidling, he saw a white cobra sitting in the middle of the hallway.

"Somebody said something along the lines of, 'Well, have you ever heard of a spitting cobra before?'" said Lewis. "And then we all kind of walked away."

Lewis said he told the buidling's management, who then called police.

"I've had several experts look at it, and they all do believe it is a cobra," said Jarrad Mears, division manager for Animal Control for BARC, the city's animal shelter and adoption facility.

Now Mears says Animal Control Services is following up with the pest control company who took the cobra to figure out what happened to it. They're also following up with the management of Rice lofts to figure out where it came from.

"We've heard from other residents that there was another resident who resided at that apartment months ago that did have a cobra in his possession and he was asked to leave," said Mears.

Management sent out a letter to residents saying they brought in a snake expert to search the third floor apartments and common areas, but found no other snakes.

Mears said he does not know of any other snakes but is still urging residents to watch their step just in case.

Mears said Animal Control will turn over whatever they find in their investigation to the state Parks and Wildlife Department. He also said that even though the state does allows permits for people to own venomous snakes, it is not legal to do so in the city of Houston.