NY zoo cobra named Mia: "missing in action"

Apr 10, 2011 |

Reuters

New York

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The venomous Egyptian cobra that slithered its way to fame by escaping its enclosure at New York's Bronx Zoo for a week before being recaptured has been given a name, Mia, as in ‘missing in action.’

The winning name announced on Thursday by zoo officials was selected from 33,000 nominations made in an online contest launched by the zoo and the New York Daily News.

There were five finalists, Agnes, Amaunet, Cleopatra, Subira and Mia.
No matter what her given name, the adolescent female snake may always be known to many as @BronxZoosCobra, a fake Twitter account about the snake's imagined escapades that has nearly 240,000 followers.

During her disappearance last month, the tweets focused on her alleged jaunts to New York's tourist attractions.

Since her recapture in the zoo's Reptile House just a short distance from her cage, the tweets have focused on her life behind bars and hatching plans for her next escape.

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