11-foot king cobra rescued from village in Chodavaram mandal

Residents found the snake in a toilet and alerted officials

The king cobra that was rescued from Chodavaram mandal in Visakhapatnam district being released into the forest on Tuesday.

An 11-foot king cobra was rescued from a village in Chodavaram mandal of Visakhapatnam district by forest officials and the members of Eastern Ghats Wildlife Society, on Monday late night. It was released into the reserve forest area on Tuesday morning.

According to sources, the villagers found the king cobra in a toilet of a house and alerted the rescue team. Residents from the villages nearby gathered in large number to see the snake.

“It was a female king cobra weighing around 5.5 kg. The species is among the longest poisonous snakes in the world. King cobras usually do not bite humans unlike vipers. Rather, they are afraid of humans,” a forest official said.

It was not for the first time that snakes were found slithering into villages in Chodavaram mandal, he said and appreciated that the villagers alerted the rescue team immediately without killing the snake.

‘Locals being trained’

The members of Eastern Ghats Wildlife Society said that local residents were being trained in the techniques to deal with snakes slithering into the villages.