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‘I can’t even explain it,’ official says of copperhead found in city parking deck

Posted at 6:04 PM, Jun 10, 2015
and last updated 2015-06-10 18:59:02-04

copperheadRICHMOND, Va. – A venomous snake was found downtown Richmond on Wednesday morning.

Working in the news business certainly brings with it an element of danger, but the odds of this happening are pretty slim. The copperhead snake seen in the pictures was found in the parking deck used by our colleagues at the Richmond Times-Dispatch, in the 300 block of E. Franklin Street.

They reported that the snake got on to the third-floor parking deck by either riding under or in someone’s vehicle before slithering out.

In fact, one employee who lives in the West End said it wouldn’t be the first time he had seen one on a vehicle.

"It could have (come in on my car) because last year I was changing oil on the same vehicle and one went right by my head," said Vernon Forbes in the paper's Prepress Design Services Department, in the story published on the RTD website.

But that's the type of behavior that  John (J.D.) Kleopfer with the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries said is to be expected of say, rat snakes not copperheads.

"I can’t even explain it," he said to the RTD. In a quote attributed to him that has since been removed from the site, he even mused that "somebody could have been playing a joke and intentionally put it there."

It took a couple of attempts, but Animal Control Officers were able to nab the snake and rehome it down at the James River.

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