Snakes and ladders game keeps zoo shut

Staff at a Swedish zoo are still rushing to find a king cobra that had escaped from its enclosure.

The snake wriggled through a lamp fixture in a terrarium and is believed to be hiding in an inner ceiling. The incident occurred only days after it arrived at the zoo.

A visitor captured the great escape on video, in which a distressed person is heard asking: "Is it safe to be here?" A staff member calmly replies: "No, but we're working on it."

The terrarium, which has housed king cobras for 15 years, was bewildered by the new tenant's unprecedented protocol break.

The reptile section was evacuated and has been closed until the escapee is captured. Sticky traps have been laid out to track it and special cameras were installed to inspect sewage pipes.

Jonas Wahlstrom, director of the Skansen Aquarium, said there is no danger of it escaping outside. "But hypothetically it's so cold outside that it would doze off immediately."

The snake is now known as Houdini.