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Snake in Christmas tree: Unwelcome holiday guest
A venomous boomslang snake was found lounging in a South African family’s Christmas tree.
STAFF VIDEO, USA TODAY
While conducting a welfare check in Maryland, police discovered a dead man and his collection of 124 caged snakes.
The snakes, some of them venomous and illegal, were “meticulously cared for” in cages stacked throughout the home, Charles County spokesperson Jennifer Harris told NBC Washington.
On Wednesday, fire and EMS authorities knocked down the front door and discovered a 49-year-old man dead. The man’s identity was not released, and his death was being investigated. Authorities did not suspect foul play.
The next day, the snakes were removed from the home. Among them were rattlesnakes, cobras, black mambas and a 14-foot-long Burmese python, Harris said.
Python pops out: Python seeks to slip the capture of snake wrangler’s bag
Watch: Family spots snake slithering in Christmas tree, one of world’s most poisonous
“We don’t anticipate that there was any security issue with any of the snakes escaping. He was well-known by his neighbors in the community, but nobody had just basically ever been inside his home to know that this part of the home life was going on,” Harris told NBC Washington.
Harris said the Charles County chief of animal control told her he had never seen or heard of anything improper that occurred in the Maryland home.
“The feedback we heard was he was very pleasant, nice, quiet,” Harris told The Baltimore Sun. “A neighborly guy.”
Follow Gabriela Miranda on Twitter: @itsgabbymiranda
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