Puri: An Indian cobra, that had entered a mouse trap in search of prey, was rescued after it could not come out in Odisha’s Puri district on Sunday.
Dasharathi Mohapatra of Delanga had kept a mouse trap to catch the rodents which were damaging food items in his shop. On Sunday morning, when he opened the shop, Dasharathi spotted the cobra inside the trap. Since the trap was small and there was chance of the cobra biting from inside, he did not take it out of the shop and called Snake Helpline.
Susant Behera, a volunteer of Snake Helpline, reached the spot and marked swelling in the cobra’s stomach. He suspected that it might have entered the trap and swallowed the mouse. As its stomach got swollen, the cobra could not come out of the small cage.
Indian Cobra Rescued From Mouse Trap In Odisha’s Puri – YouTube
However, Susant managed to open one side of the trap and let the snake sneak out. He then gently caught hold of the venomous snake using his snake hook and took it out of the shop to an open space. He put the 4-ft cobra inside his bag and released in in a natural habitat out of the village.
Subhendu Mallik, general secretary of Snake Helpline said, “In such cases, people should never try to free the snake on their own. They should take help from trained snake rescuers.”
