Irrational Fears that come true

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Here is my irrational fear that has come true:

King cobra escapes and is on the loose in Orlando, Florida

A word of advice to the people of Orlando. Before you step outside Thursday or send your pet out into the backyard, take a little extra time to look around first.

Especially if you live near the 4800 block of North Apopka Vineland Road.

There's a king cobra on the loose.

The snake's owner describes him as 8-feet long -- not very big as king cobras go -- but he still a very venomous visitor to central Florida.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission says if you come across the snake, do not try to catch it. You're probably thinking, "no problem," right now.

According to National Geographic, king cobras are shy when it comes to humans, but if cornered, that's when they get riled up.

A bite from one can kill an elephant.

The king cobra's owner is licensed to own the deadly snakes and told authorities the other venomous snakes, including a female king cobra, in the home are in their enclosures. The missing snake slithered out within the past 24 hours, wildlife officials said Wednesday afternoon.

The snake is green and white and is probably hunting for other snakes, lizards or small mammals.

(now granted this also qualifies for Florida thread) - please add your true irrational fears.

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@Linkat,

I just heard this article on NPR about an hour ago.

That's not an irrational fear. Sadly though, it did come true.

The irrational fear I have is towards those officials that 'licensed' this careless person or to those who are in a position to grant anyone that isn't a laboratory who have the most stringent safety precautions. I hate that those who are licensed to own a cobra are located in a neighborhood as opposed to some removed location.

It's even worse than having sexual predators who ARE listed on predator websites. Aren't cobras deadly predators? don't we as the public have a right to know where such places are located?

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@Ragman,

I mean irrational in that it is so unlikely to occur.

Like being afraid of getting sucked into an escalator and killed - not likely to happen and then you hear of it....

Chinese mother saves son seconds before falling to death inside escalator

Security camera footage has emerged of a mother saving her young son's life seconds before losing her own on an escalator in China.

The 30-second video begins innocently enough: As the escalator in a shopping mall almost reaches the top, a woman in a white shirt and black skirt lifts up her young son to get ready to step off.

But as she does, a metal panel collapses under her feet. She falls into the gap.

Chinese state media on Monday named the woman as 31-year-old Xiang Liujuan.

Struggling with only her upper body above the metal structure, Xiang is seen pushing her son forward. The boy is quickly pulled to safety by a mall employee standing near the top of the escalator.

Two other mall employees try to drag Xiang out, but within a few seconds, she disappears through the hole into the escalator shaft.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/27/china/chinese-mother-killed-escalator/

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@Ragman,

In other words - it is irrational to be afraid you will be biten and killed by a king cobra... how many king cobras would you run into - until now.

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@Linkat,

We as a species will always have fear of the unknown. My point is that it can be in our vital best interest to be able to separate the irrational from the knowable and/or actionable.

However, there are some issues we would be best as a community to be better prepared. As I wrote before, with our knowledge that there's a predator in our neighborhood by looking up this info at a website. Such keepers of deadly snakes should have a clearing-house for their location info so that you can go to there to find out if it's in your neighborhood. Then our irrational fears can be better informed.

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@Linkat,

When I was in high school my grandparents wintered in Florida. One school break (I forget now if it was spring break or Xmas vacation), me and some relatives drove down to visit them for a week.

I was romping around barefoot in shorts in relatively tall grass, and then wandered into the driveway. And there basking in the sun was an Eastern Diamondback Shocked

. It was a young one.

My grandpa ended up killing it. I still regret not speaking up and seeing if I could get them to have animal control capture it alive and transport it to some remote swamp.

It was in the Tampa area, but was a rural campground, nothing urban.

I was more careful wandering into tall grass after that.

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