What is it with animated movies and health and safety scares lately? After warnings over KPop Demon Hunters noodle-eating challenges on TikTok, now Zootopia 2 has triggered an alert over dangerous pets.
Zootopia 2 is the highest-grossing US film of the year and fast on its way to become one of Disney's biggest movies. It's been particularly popular in China, where it seems some people have become a little too fond of Gary De'Snake.
Gary De'Snake is one of the new characters in Zootopia 2. He's instantly recognisable because, well, he's a snake, and he's electric blue with bulbous yellow eyes.
Voiced by Key Huy Quan, the animated character has been winning fans with his positive vibes and selfless temperament (see the behind-the-scenes videos for glimpses into the making of Zootopia 2). But Disney notes that Gary was inspired by a less sociable real-life snake, the Sunda Island pit viper (Trimeresurus insularis).
CNN and The Paper have reported that online searches for said species have rocketed since the release of the movie, and people in China have been buying the reptile over well-known e-commerce sites for up to several thousand yuan.
Media in China have now warned the public that toxins in the snake's venom can damage cells and occasionally lead to serious symptoms, including systemic bleeding.
“In the movie, the blue snake is imbued with endearing and brave human-like traits, but the real-life venomous snake is far from being a harmless ‘trendy toy’,” the state-linked Beijing News notes.
“If a venomous snake escapes or attacks, it endangers not only the owner and their family but can also escalate into a public safety incident,” the newspaper adds.
CNN reports that several major Chinese e-commerce platforms, such as ByteDance’s Douyin, JD Xiaohogshu and Alibaba’s Xianyu have removed listings of the species for sale after the issue was flagged up.
With these controversies around KPop Demon Hunters and Zootopia, it seems a miracle society survived Finding Nemo with its instruction to “just keep swimming”, or that Frozen didn't inspire children to lock themselves in freezers to “feel Elsa’s power.”
It makes me wonder what dangers the coming animation in 2026 will cause.
Inspired to create your own public health risk? See our guides to the best animation software and the best laptops for animation.
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