SAN FRANCISCO—On Saturday, July 11, a venomous snake was reported missing from the San Francisco Zoo.
The San Francisco Zoo recently opened a multimillion dollar exhibit called the South American Tropical Rainforest Exhibit on Saturday. The exhibit hosts a variety of animals like parrots, aquatic birds, mammals, and tropical birds. It also has a “herpetological collection,” which is where all the reptiles and amphibians reside.
The Philodryas Baroni, commonly known as, Baron’s Racer was not able to be located on July 10, the day before the exhibit was to premiere. The snake is originally from Paraguay, south of Argentina, and are generally non-aggressive. They are venomous, but the venom is not lethal. The worst that can happen if bitten by this snake is that the bite can cause an edema and tiny bleeding where the bite is located; it can also be accompanied by a slight burning pain.
Zoo officials state that the fate of the snake was that it became food for one of the birds in the exhibit. Birds eat small animals like snakes; some of them are not kept in cages and are given freedom to spread their wings in the exhibit. The snakes are usually kept in a cage for their own protection.
