Bhubaneswar: Quick response and prompt action by Snake Helpline volunteers saved the life of a common cobra which was struggling to regurgitate a cough syrup bottle it had swallowed in Bhubaneswar.
A video of the scene was posted by Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF), Wildlife, Susanta Nanda on X handle.
“A Common cobra swallowed a cough syrup bottle in Bhubaneswar & was struggling to regurgitate it. Volunteers from snake help line gently widened the lower jaw to free the rim of the base of the bottle with great risk & saved a precious life. Kudos,” the PCCF wrote.
General Secretary of Snake Helpline Subhendu Mallik said he received a call in the morning from a resident of Gyananagar in Old Town area informing him about a cobra in distress after swallowing a bottle-like substance.
The caller informed that the cobra was trying to regurgitate the bottle but could not do so. Subhendu rushed to the spot and found the cobra struggling heavily to regurgitate something which is much larger than its head.
The cobra looked severely dehydrated and a few of the eyewitnesses said they had been seeing this cobra for the last 15 days wandering here and there in the same locality with a bulging stomach.
Subhendu said he gently widened the lower jaw of the cobra with his hook end. Once the rim of the base of the bottle freed from the lower jaw, the snake then regurgitated the plastic bottle.
The plastic bottle was found to be a medicine bottle for the common cold, a cough syrup bottle, which was readable on the paper pasted on it. Subhendu then allowed the cobra to move freely for ten minutes and then bagged it. The snake was then released in a suitable natural habitat out of the city.