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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Idaho officials seize 34 venomous snakes from Boise home

Associated Press

Associated Press

BOISE – Idaho officials seized 34 venomous snakes from the home of a 25-year-old man in Boise.

Officers with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game as well as Boise Police Department officers served a search warrant on Saturday and charges are currently pending against the man.

“We were more than a bit surprised by what we discovered,” IDFG regional conservation officer Charlie Justus said.

Some of the snakes that were seized include an Indian cobra, an Indochina spitting cobra, a flat-nosed pit viper, two Vogel’s pit vipers, two Cape coral cobras, two hog-nosed pit vipers, a green bush viper, a zebra spitting cobra, two monocled cobras and a massasauga rattlesnake.

A city code in Boise bans ownership of nearly all venomous snakes except those native to North America. While some of the snakes were native to Idaho, many were from Southeast Asia, Africa and Central and South America.

Many prospective owners are required to have an import permit and a veterinary certificate of health in order to own exotic reptiles and amphibians.

The suspect did not have any documentation for the snakes in his possession, authorities said.