Raleigh Police Department
Allowing an extremely dangerous snake to escape from your house is one thing. Not reporting it for months as it slithered around a residential area is quite another.
TikTok-famous snake handler Chris Gifford, 22, is asking for forgiveness in the wake of last summer’s snake scare in Raleigh, North Carolina. Residents lived in fear after authorities warned that a zebra cobra—a deadly species known for its venom-spitting used to blind prey—had been spotted on the loose, but it wouldn’t be found for several days.
Gifford previously pleaded guilty in court for not immediately raising the alarm when the snake got out of its enclosure in November 2020. “I was young and terrified,” Gifford said in an interview with WRAL, explaining why he didn’t immediately act. “I still am young and terrified about the whole situation.”