Banki: It was a heart-in-the-mouth moment for Sarat Panda when he spotted a giant cobra on his bed at Banki’s Harirajpur village in Cuttack district on Tuesday evening.
He immediately dialled the number of Snake Helpline.
Amid the heavy downpour, two members of the Snake Helpline – Lalit Mohan Panda and Durga Madhav Mohapatra – reached the village to rescue the snake.
The duo initially failed to spot the snake but could still hear the hissing sound. As Lalit sat on the bed trying to open an old TV set, thinking it to the hideout of the snake, he saw something wriggling underneath the mattress and jumped to alert his teammate.
Durga then carefully lifted the mattress with the help of a snake hook and found a healthy 5 feet long snake.
The reptile was then released into a natural habitat.
The cobra might have entered the house for shelter amid incessant rainfall in the area, a member of the Snake Helpline said.
“We are taking a few selective rescue calls considering the COVID-19 pandemic,” said General Secretary of Snake Helpline Subhendu Mallik.
