Teen faces £90,000 bill for snake hunt

A German teenager faces a near £90,000 bill after his pet snake escaped, trigering a three-week hunt.

Authorities stripped the owner's flat bare, ripped out walls and floorboards and evacuating the building, reports the BBC. The 12ins monocled cobra was eventually found dead on double-sided sticky tape laid by the fire brigade.

The venomous snake's 19-year-old owner now reportedly faces a bill for 100,000 euros (£88,000) in costs. After the cobra escaped from its tank, firefighters sealed the building and laid the sticky-tape trap. They checked the building daily and, finally, one of them spotted the snake, lying on a piece of tape having apparently died of exhaustion.

It is believed the snake may have emerged from its hiding place because of the warmer weather. The owner's flat has been left uninhabitable, though other residents could return to the building, local media reports said.

"Everything has had a happy end," a spokesman for the town of Muelheim in western Germany said. "Not for the snake but for us."

http://web.orange.co.uk/article/quirkies/Teen_faces_90000_bill_for_snake_hunt