Cobra escaped from homemade cage with no locks in Grand Prairie home, affidavit says
A 6-foot-long West African banded cobra, a highly venomous snake, had been kept in a homemade cage by her owner before she escaped last summer, according to an affidavit.
The cage was made of wood and sliding plexiglass, and it had no locks, Grand Prairie police said.
The female snake was in the cage with a male West African banded cobra when it bolted on Aug. 3, according to the affidavit obtained by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram on Monday.
Her owner faces a charge in the case.
Lawrence Thomas Matl III, 23, of Grand Prairie was arrested on Feb 11 without incident.
Matl faces a misdemeanor charge of release from captivity, a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department violation.
The venomous West African banded cobra had not been located as of Monday.
The affidavit provided these additional details in the case:
Matl told Grand Prairie police in August that he had bought the pair of cobras just about two weeks before the escape.
He had them in the homemade enclosure, but with no locks on it.
On Aug. 3, he told authorities he had just fed the cobras when he left the room for about 15 minutes and when he returned, the female cobra was gone.
Matl told Grand Prairie police he noticed the plexiglass on the cage was open about an inch, but he told authorities he knows he closed it.
The Grand Prairie man told authorities the snakes are smart, and he had had a snake escape before but he had found it minutes later.
Matl also told authorities in addition to the two cobras, he had a pit viper in his residence.
Authorities later removed the snakes from his home because a Grand Prairie city ordinance does not allow residents to own wildlife in the city.
An expert on wildlife removal told Grand Prairie police that the homemade cage was not sufficient for a highly venomous snake.
The state charge against Matl states a person may not intentionally, recklessly or with criminal negligence release or allow the release from a captivity of a venomous snake.
