Zodiac killers
Indignity Vol. 5, No. 166
SERPENT HANDLING DEP'T.
How Are the Humans Coping With the Year of the Snake?
ON JANUARY 29, the world celebrated the lunar New Year, welcoming in the Year of the Snake. Then most humans stopped paying attention until the next lunar new year, but the snakes kept going—to the occasional consternation and regret of the humans who ran into them, or to the consternation and regret of the snakes. How have we been interacting with our limbless friends so far, in their special year?
FEBRUARY
Inspectors from the Hilo office of the Hawai‘i Department of Agriculture Plant Quarantine Branch responded Feb. 4 to Honoli‘i Beach, about 2 miles northwest of Hilo, after getting a call from Hawai‘i Department of Land and Natural Resources that a Hilo resident reported a live highly venomous yellow-bellied sea snake.
The snake was found pinned under a log after being washed ashore at Honoli‘i. Inspectors collected the 3-foot reptile, which had been contained by lifeguards in a 5-gallon bucket...
Sightings of yellow-bellied sea snakes on land are rare in Hawai‘i, usually only happening when strong winds or currents wash them onto the shoreline.
(Big Island Now)
“This unexpected stowaway was found napping on a Jayhawk tailwheel,” U.S. Coast Guard Station Clearwater wrote in a Feb. 11 Facebook post. “He reluctantly departed the scene when confronted.”
The intruder was discovered Feb. 9, as Petty Officer 2nd Class Cole Lindvall was doing a post-flight inspection of the MH60 helicopter, officials said...
The snake was identified as a two-foot corn snake, a species native to Florida.
(Miami Herald)
MARCH
The world’s smallest snake, the Barbados threadsnake (Tetracheilostoma carlae), was rediscovered under a rock in central Barbados during an ecological survey in March by the Barbados Ministry of the Environment and National Beautification and Re:wild. The Barbados threadsnake had been lost to science for nearly 20 years—meaning it had not had a sighting verified and documented by a scientist—and was on a global list of 4,800 plant, animal and fungi species lost to science compiled by Re:wild’s Search for Lost Species. The Barbados Ministry of the Environment and Beautification had been searching for the threadsnake and several other endemic reptiles for more than a year as part of the Conserving Barbados’ Endemic Reptiles (CBER) project...
The Barbados threadsnake is at the limit of how small a snake can be, measuring only about 3 to 4 inches long (9 to 10 centimeters) when it is fully grown.(Re:wild)
A two-headed western rat snake named Tiger-Lily is recovering well after having surgery at the St. Louis Zoo in March. Tiger-Lily, who is cared for by the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC), was on a statewide tour and left the Powder Valley Nature Center for the Saint Louis Zoo for surgery on her ovaries.
Concerns were raised after Tiger-Lily sneezed up traces of blood during a feeding the week prior.
(First Alert 4 KMOV)
APRIL
[A] 20-year-old man died from a snake bite in Tamil Nadu while he was riding a pillion with his friend on a bike in Tamil Nadu's Theni district.
Harish was on the bike with his friend on April 2 when the snake hiding in the two-wheeler climbed out. When the rider saw the snake, he suddenly applied brakes after which the snake jumped over onto Harish and bit him in his hand.
(ETV Bharat)
A team of four researchers stood apart from one another, arms outstretched, clutching a giant python, and it takes a wide-angle lens just to capture the length of the beast they found in Big Cypress National Preserve in Florida’s Everglades.
The group posted the image to the Big Cypress Facebook page Friday and are calling the catch a record.
The female python was over 17 feet long, weighed 140 pounds, and contained 73 developing eggs. That would make her longer, end-to-end, than a one-story building or a five-meter diving platform.
(Miami Herald)
Freer [Texas] resident Eugene DeLeon Sr., died at age 60 from injuries related to a rattlesnake bite at the Rattlesnake Roundup in Freer.
“All I can say is that my dad passed on, doing what he loved the most,” said Blanca Treviño, DeLeon Sr.’s daughter.
Treviño said her father started handling snakes at the age of 18...
There was no anti-venom at the Rattlesnake Roundup, as anti-venom is only able to be administered by a medical professional.
(KRIS 6 News)
MAY
A power outage has been restored near downtown Durham after more than 9,900 people were in the dark Monday night, according to Duke Energy.
According to Duke Energy, around 10,00 people were without power as of 11:30 p.m. in the city. The outage was restored around 1:30 a.m. Tuesday morning.
Jeff Brooks with Duke Energy said a black snake came into contact with powerlines at a substation near Ashe Street that serves east Durham.
(WRAL)
A woman in Missouri found a black rat snake in the hood of her car while driving her son to baseball practice.
The woman and her son attempted to “chase” the snake out of the vehicle with no luck, the Missouri Department of Conservation reported.
She was finally able to remove the snake with the help of her coworkers.
Francis Skalicky, with the Missouri Department of Conservation, said that the snake may have been seeking out warmth.
(KNOP News 2)
JUNE
[The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams temple-management trust]’s lone snake catcher Bhaskar Naidu, who is recovering from a serious snake bite incident at Tirumala, has not only plunged the entire administration into a state of uncertainty, but also exposed scores of its employees and the visiting pilgrims to the risk of being bitten by snakes.
Sixty-eight-year-old Mr. Naidu was rushed to the Medical ICU of Amara Hospital in a critical condition on Friday evening after suffering a cobra bite on his left hand. The mishap occurred when he had successfully caught hold of the snake with his right hand and was pushing it into a bag with his left hand...
This is not the first time that Mr. Naidu has suffered a snake bite while on duty. He was admitted to the same hospital, albeit in a more critical condition, in 2023 for a viper bite. He had reportedly not used the profession kit required for the task.
(The Hindu)
JULY
An Australian domestic flight was delayed for two hours after a stowaway snake was found in the plane's cargo hold, officials said on Wednesday.
The snake was found on Tuesday as passengers were boarding Virgin Australia Flight VA337 at Melbourne Airport bound for Brisbane, according to snake catcher Mark Pelley.
The snake turned out to be a harmless 2-foot green tree snake. But Pelly said he thought it could be venomous when he approached it in the darkened hold.
"It wasn't until after I caught the snake that I realized that it wasn't venomous. Until that point, it looked very dangerous to me," Pelley said.
(CBS News)
[A] two-year-old boy in Bettiah, West Champaran, bit a cobra to death with his bare teeth after the serpent coiled itself tightly around his tiny hands.
The extraordinary confrontation, reminiscent of the mythological tale of Lord Krishna and Kaliya Naag, left the toddler unconscious but alive, thanks to quick medical intervention...
Govinda [Kumar], ever curious, spotted the reptile and, perhaps unaware of its lethal nature, threw a piece of brick at it in play. Then, the snake struck back, coiling itself around the child's hands...
Instead of screaming or running, the little boy sank his teeth into the snake's flesh, biting it so hard that it died on the spot.
(Times of India)
AUGUST
A man has died after he was bitten by a venomous snake at a Tennessee state park, according to park officials...
A witness told first responders that the hiker picked up the snake, which is believed to be a timber rattlesnake, and was bitten on the hand.
(ABC News)
A python was found tucked inside the engine compartment of a tractor-trailer parked near a Miami residence on Aug. 23, while another was captured in a home's yard a day later, according to Miami-Dade Fire Rescue.
Additionally, after receiving a report of a snake inside a Miami residence, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue captured and removed a large Burmese python from a shed on the property.(Palm Beach Post)
SEPTEMBER
A rare two-headed snake born at Berkeley’s East Bay Vivarium, which surprised and charmed Bay Area residents, has died.
Angel and Zeke, named after the workers who discovered the California kingsnake hatchlings, died Sept. 2, just one day short of their first birthday...
[T]he shiny striped black and white snake was able to feed, with the dominant right head devouring a baby mouse every week. (There was an ongoing debate over which head was Angel and which was Zeke.)...
The snake grew to more than 18 inches, and seemed to thrive in an enclosure near the Vivarium’s front entrance, designed with fewer obstacles to prevent the animals’ forked neck from getting stuck...
[One of the workers] described the snakes’ personalities as “clumsy but fearless.”
(San Francisco Chronicle)
A North Carolina family claims their child's day care didn't call 911 when the boy was bit by a copperhead on the playground.
The New Beginnings Child Enrichment Center in Stony Point said the child was bitten on the playground, and a worker killed the copperhead. Local news outlets in Charlotte reached out to emergency services in Alexander County, who confirmed they never received a 911 call from the day care.
(WRAL)
Police were called to a southeastern Sioux Falls apartment on Sunday after a man reported that his pet cobra bit him. That snake was an African forest cobra—but it wasn’t the only scaly creature in the apartment.
“When animal control did respond, we were made aware that there were two cobras in his bedroom loose, along with a confined eastern diamondback rattlesnake,” said Patty Beckman, Sioux Falls Animal Control supervisor. “So, animal control was able to get into the apartment and remove the loose cobras safely.”
(KELO)
WEATHER REVIEWS
New York City, September 16, 2025
★★★ The clouds closed over, but without conviction, leaving glimmering thinner parts around the sky and an intermittently brightening spot where the sun was. A gust hit the trees so hard it sounded like rain, but the air was dry and getting drier. It probably would have been safe to skip sunscreen on the legs but it was even easier to just swap out the shorts for long pants. At day's end, the clouds pulled apart enough to allow patches of clear blue through.
EASY LISTENING DEP'T.
HERE IS TODAY'S Indignity Morning Podcast!
Indignity Morning Podcast No. 536: Acute malnutrition.
THE PURSUIT OF PODCASTING ADEQUACY™
Tom Scocca
Here is the Indignity Morning Podcast archive!
INDIGNITY MORNING PODCAST
Tom Scocca reads you the newspaper.
TOM SCOCCA
ADVICE DEP'T.
HEY! DO YOU like advice columns? They don't happen unless you send in some letters! Surely you have something you want to justify to yourself, or to the world at large. Now is the perfect time to share it with everyone else through The Sophist, the columnist who is not here to correct you, but to tell you why you're right. Direct your questions to The Sophist, at indignity@indignity.net, and get the answers you want.
SANDWICH RECIPES DEP'T.
WE PRESENT INSTRUCTIONS in aid of the assembly of sandwiches selected from British Everyday Cookery, published by Whitcombe and Tombs in 1910 and available at archive.org for the delectation of all.
CHEESE SANDWICHES.
Quarter lb. cheese, 2 or 3 hard-boiled eggs, 1 oz. butter, seasoning.
Grate the cheese and pound the yolks of the eggs. Melt the butter, and mix all with a seasoning of pepper, salt, and a little mustard. Use the paste for spreading between thin slices of buttered bread. Water, lunch, and milk biscuits are nice with cheese fillings.
If you decide to prepare and attempt to enjoy a sandwich inspired by this offering, be sure to send a picture to indignity@indignity.net .
SELF-SERVING SELF-PROMOTION DEP'T.
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