See our latest: White Cobra Snake Likely Headed to San Diego Zoo

Updated at the bottom with the snake captured. The headline has been edited. Also note that the L.A. Zoo now says the snake is not technically albino. 

The unprecedented hunt for an exotic white cobra snake on the loose in Thousand Oaks continued today as the San Diego Zoo has offered to house it at least temporarily if the reptile is found, said Los Angeles County spokesman Brandon Dowling.

See also: Albino Cobra On the Loose in Thousand Oaks

Authorities have received tips about a possible owner and were trying to track that person down today, he told us. He said it was too early to say if the snake would be returned, sent permanently to a zoo or sanctuary, put up for adoption or destroyed.

If the venomous, potentially deadly “albino monocled cobra” isn't found by sundown, L.A. County Department of Animal Care and Control officials will reevaluate the situation and likely start over at 7 a.m. tomorrow, Dowling said:

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There's an “ongoing investigation to determine” who the owner might be, he said.

Authorities were made aware of a snake on the loose in the 1300 block of Rancho Lane in Thousand Oaks roughly at 10:30 a.m. yesterday after a dog was bit by the reptile Tuesday, county authorities said.


The canine was taken to a vet and “is expected to make a full recovery,” according to a county statement distributed today.

Since authorities began searching for the cobra, the type of which can grow to 7 feet in length, there have been no sightings. Officials are concerned that someone could be bitten, and a batch of antivenin at the San Diego Zoo has been offered up just in case.

Credit: This was purported to be a photo of the actual snake, via L.A. County

Credit: This was purported to be a photo of the actual snake, via L.A. County

As many as four animal control officers were on the hunt today, Dowling said.

Fliers have been distributed around the neighborhood warning folks that a potentially dangerous snake was at-large. Residents were being told to call 911 immediately if they spot the white creature.

Although Thousand Oaks is in Ventura County, the community has a contract for for the services of L.A. County Department of Animal Care and Control.

[Update at 3:28 p.m.]: County officials announced at 3:18 p.m. that the snake has been captured.

Dowling told us the reptile was found by an animal control officers “in the same neighborhood where it was originally spotted” earlier this week.

The cobra was being taken to the Agoura Hills Animal Shelter (29525 Agoura Road), where it would be the star, along with its captor, of a 4 p.m. news conference, he said.
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