An 8-foot king cobra snake that escaped its owner's Orlando home in late August was found Wednesday under a clothes dryer by a neighbor who heard it hissing.
"I didn't see it; I heard it," said Cynthia Mullvain,
the Orlando Sentinel reported. "It's a big snake. It only hissed when I put something in the dryer."
Mullvain soon called animal control, and three animal officers, Jennifer Porter, Kirsten Smith, and Billy Ledford, wrangled the 8-foot snake into a cat cage.
"I did notice when I was there it was acting aggressive and, of course, was hissing," Ledford said,
according to USA Today.
The highly venomous snake, named Elvis, was reported missing from the home of reality TV personality Mike Kennedy, star of Discovery Channel's "Airplane Repo," on Sept. 2.
Kennedy had the proper permits to keep the snake, however he was issued a nearly $400 citation for "failure to immediately report the escape of a non-indigenous venomous reptile."
Kennedy, who runs Dragon Ranch, a nonprofit to rescue exotic animals, said the snake was kept in a cage in his garage. After returning from a 2-day trip, Kennedy arrived home in early September to discover that a tree branch had fallen, punching a hole in the garage roof, allowing water to disturb the snakes habitat. The snake soon escaped, most likely through a gap between the cage and some netting.
After reporting Elvis missing, animal control performed an active hunt for the snake, setting up foot patrols and traps.
Ultimately, Elvis was caught not far from where he had escaped his home and his cage, the state Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission reported via Twitter.
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