Raleigh votes on new rules for ‘dangerous wild animal’ a year after zebra cobra escape

This story was updated after the Raleigh City Council’s final vote July 5, 2022.

The Raleigh City Council approved new rules outlawing “dangerous wild animals” nearly one year after a venomous zebra cobra escaped from a northwest Raleigh home.

The council cast its second vote on the rules Tuesday, approving them 6-2. Members Nicole Stewart and Stormie Forte voted against the rules.

Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin, who had opposed the rules during an initial vote June 22, voted for them Tuesday.

The ban applies to “inherently dangerous” animals that don’t generally live with humans and specifically includes lions, tigers, wolves, non-human primates, “medically significant” venomous snakes and crocodilians.

A medically significant venomous snake means a poisonous species that can cause death or serious illness or injury in humans that may require emergency room care or immediate care of a physician, according to the ordinance.

The rules ban people from acquiring new “dangerous wild animals” within city limits. Existing pets are grandfathered in as long as their owners register them under the new rules. Registration will begin July 1, 2023.

Council member David Knight began pushing for new rules after the zebra cobra was spotted in northwest Raleigh last summer and law enforcement spent two days looking for it before the snake was captured.

The escaped snake was one of several kept in the home of Christopher Gifford, who failed to report it was missing back in November 2020. A zebra cobra can spit venom several feet, and the snake caused a frenzy of local and global media attention. Gifford pleaded guilty to failing to report the missing snake in August 2021.

Neighbors who lived near where the snake was loose were ‘traumatized,” Knight said during the June meeting. And it could have been worse, he said.

“It seemed a bit surreal to us,” Knight said. “And it did get some laughs along the way. Like ‘Could this really be happening in Raleigh?’ But it wouldn’t have been a laughing matter if one of our first responders who dealt with this or an innocent bystander would have been bitten or spit on by the snake.”

There was never any “real harm” for residents from the snake, said Mayor Pro Tem Nicole Stewart. It was a “perceived threat,” she said.

“There was never any real threat,” Stewart said. “And I want folks to understand that. There’s a lot of things we’re afraid of. And many of them we shouldn’t be afraid of. There’s a lot of things going on in our city right now that need our attention. And I do not think this is one of them.”

The new animal rules

The new rules include a $500 fine per animal.

The rules do not apply to accredited zoos, scientific research laboratories, veterinarians, education or scientific institutions or wildlife rehabilitators.

After a year of debate, the city reviewed four options that ranged from outright banning the animals regardless of how long a person had owned the animal to allowing them as long as they are registered.

The original rules would have banned animals from tigers, monkeys and alligators to ducks and squirrels. And the original rules seemed to ban uncommon pets like sugar gliders, ferrets and most reptiles, prompting concern from local and national groups like the U.S. Association of Reptile Keepers.