Owner of zebra cobra pleads guilty to not reporting its escape, turns over $35,000 worth of snakes

The man whose venomous zebra cobra was spotted on the loose earlier this year pleaded guilty Friday to violating state regulations related to owning a venomous reptile.

Posted 4:57 p.m. Aug 6, 2021 — Updated 2:32 a.m. Aug 7, 2021

Matt Talhelm

, WRAL reporter

RALEIGH, N.C. — A plea deal means the owner of a venomous zebra cobra that escaped in North Raleigh will avoid a trial on dozens of charges.

Chris Gifford, 21, of Raleigh, must turn over $35,000 worth of snakes and pay $13,162 in restitution for, among other things, the police and EMS response to the loose snake. The snakes will be used for cancer research and anti-venom development.

Gifford also promised not to possess any other snakes for a year.

Gifford was charged last month with 40 misdemeanors, one of which was that he failed to notify authorities last November that the deadly snake had escaped. The other charges were for not having proper locks on the enclosures where snakes were kept in his home and for not properly labeling some enclosures.

Under the plea agreement entered with the state Friday, which took two hours in court to settle, 39 of those charges were dismissed.

Gifford pleaded guilty to one charge for violating North Carolina's venomous reptiles law.

Gifford sat quietly in court as his attorney apologized for his actions that allowed a potentially-deadly zebra cobra to get loose from his home in November.

That was seven months before someone spotted it on their front porch a half mile away, leading to a three-day search and recapture.

Gifford's attorney Anna Smith Felts said Gifford is "extremely sorry."

"Clearly there was a lack of judgment on this day back in November," Felts said, adding, "He presumed this animal to be dead."

Authorities later seized 74 snakes from Gifford's home. They've been re-housed in another location in Raleigh.

"We feel this is an appropriate resolution," Felts told WRAL News. "It’s fair to people, that they’re going to have one chance to mess up, and this was kind of his one chance and he’s learned from it."

For one of Gifford's neighbors, his punishment is not enough.

Amanda Woomer sat in the courtroom, shaking her head as the judge accepted the plea agreement.

"I think he got off very lightly," she said. "I would have preferred he never have snakes again."

Gifford didn't come out to talk after the hearing inside the courtroom.

Felts told WRAL News that Gifford is exhausted from all of this.

If Gifford pays restitution and stays out of trouble for a year, prosecutors plan to dismiss the one charge he pleaded guilty to.

North Carolina is one of only six states that don't ban private ownership of venomous snakes or require a permit to have them. But owners must follow specific regulations, including housing them in secure enclosures with warning signs and notifying authorities whenever one escapes.

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