Missing Bronx Zoo cobra found -- in Reptile House

Update at 4:45 p.m. ET: The adolescent Egyptian cobra, which weighs about 3 ounces, was found in the Reptile House about 9 a.m. ET, Bronx Zoo Director Jim Breheny said at a news conference, ABC News reports. She was "coiled, sort of secluded in a dark corner" of a holding area, a couple of hundred feet from her enclosure.

In a statement, the zoo described her "secure hiding place" as "a non-public, off-exhibit area" that is "an extremely complex environment with pumps, motors and other mechanical systems."

A Reptile House employee used special tongs to nab the creature that had eluded capture for a week.

The snake will be observed and evaluated before being returned to exhibit. The Reptile House will remain closed until then.

By Doug Stanglin
USA TODAY

MyFox5 reports that Wildlife Conservation Society officials are expected to announce shortly that a poisonous Egyptian cobra that was missing at the Bronx Zoo Reptile House has been found.

Officials said earlier that the 20-inch- long snake likely found a safe place within the isolated area of the reptile house and would come out when he got hungry or thirsty.

In the meantime, the Reptile House has remained closed, although it is not at all clear that thousands had been clamoring to get in.

During the search, a cobra that goes by the handle BronxZoosCobra popped up on Twitter.

Its most recent entry:

If you see a bag of peanuts inexplicably moving along the ground at Yankee Stadium today. Just ignore it. It's probably nothing.

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