The Denver Zoo’s king cobra diagnosed with cancer early last year is in remission, thanks to a new treatment plan pioneered after the zoo pioneered a new chemotherapy regimen.
Skin biopsies taken on Dec. 20 from the snake’s initial cancer site and a scale taken from another location showed that the cobra’s cancer had not returned. His blood work has been stable since August — and the zoo has rechecked it three times.
The 18-year-old cobra was diagnosed with lymphosarcoma in February after zookeeper Tim Trout spotted a pinkish and purplish discoloration on the snake’s scales and noticed that he had lost weight.
The diagnosis was confirmed after nine X-rays, blood samples and a biopsy, all of which is easier said than done with a 12½-foot cobra that is both powerful and lethal.
The zoo didn’t have a manual for how to treat king cobras so zookeepers created their own, adapting a method used to treat domestic cats that have cancer. Zookeepers put chemo pills — the same as are used to treat humans — inside dead rodents and fed them to the snake every three weeks.
The king cobra finished the chemotherapy at the end of July.
