Owner Of Missing Grand Prairie Cobra Kept Snake In Homemade Cage Without Locks
GRAND PRAIRIE (CBSDFW.COM) - His highly venomous, 6 foot long African Banded Cobra is still at-large, but former Grand Prairie snake owner Lawrence Matl, is now behind bars.
Matl is accused of committing a misdemeanor involving the illegal discharge of the snake in August 2021.
He kept the female snake in a wooden homemade cage with plexiglass. There weren't any locks on the cage, according to his arrest warrant. Despite this, Matl told investigators he didn't know how the snake escaped on Aug. 3. He had just fed her and left the room for 15 minutes before returning to find the empty cage that day.
An expert from a local wildlife removal company advised investigators that the cage wasn't sufficient for such a highly venomous snake, according to the arrest warrant.
The story gripped a Grand Prairie neighborhood in fear after the cobra was reported missing. DFW Wildlife Control set traps to catch the serpent, but to no avail.
A Twitter account purporting to be the cobra went viral shortly after the incident.
Matl is currently being held at the Grand Prairie Detention Center on a $10,000 bond.