No, South Dakota Neighbor Isn’t Dealing with Deadly King Cobra Snakes

Some nearby neighbors to South Dakota received quite the scare this week from a report that deadly king cobra snakes had been unintentionally released due to a semi crash.

According to the report, authorities were looking to wrangle the deadly serpents that had escaped from a semi that had been in an accident. Thankfully, the report ended up being false.

Per Forbes.com, residents of Casper, Wyoming had reason to panic early on this week:

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 a widely circulated Facebook post announced that a truck carrying a load of king cobras had overturned on a local highway, releasing hundreds of the venomous reptiles.

That was the initial report, but Forbes cleared up the panic after noting the original author of the story:

The story originated with Casper Planet, a Facebook page with 69,000 followers that clearly identifies itself as satire. In its post Tuesday, Casper Planet reported that the driver of a semi truck carrying a shipment of king cobras from a Colorado research laboratory to another lab in Montana lost control of the vehicle in an attempt to avoid hitting a deer.

Somehow, someway, it seems believable. But for the good people of Casper, Wyoming, and Ophidiophobia sufferers country-wide; take a deep breath and relax.

King Cobras are pretty darn scary. They can grow up to 18 feet long, and also can enter into a 'standing' position. It's not an animal you want to cross paths with under any circumstances.

Crisis averted, Wyoming. Let's hope the tongue-in-cheek fun from the Casper Planet never becomes a reality, anywhere.

Sources: Forbes and Casper Planet Facebook