A five-foot-long monocled cobra got trapped in a snare meant for trapping birds in a forest in eastern India.


On 26 February, a local resident called Snake Helpline saying a snake had entered his house near Bhubaneswar, Odisha.

The injured cobra had tugged desperately to escape the snare, plastic strings cut deeply into its skin and flesh, leaving it in severe pain.

A volunteer, Arun Baral, went to the house and rescued the snake.

Seeing its condition, he brought it to Subhendu Mallik, General Secretary of Snake Helpline, who in turn took it to Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT) for treatment.

Professor Indramani Nath of the Department of Veterinary Surgery took an X-ray of the snake on a C-arm machine to assess the depth of the wound. He found that though the bones and ribs were intact, the snake’s skin and flesh were badly damaged.

There was no bleeding and the wound site looked blackish, which indicated that the snake had been suffering for nearly a week. Professor Nath sprayed a local anaesthetic and removed the plastic string gently. He cleaned the wound and gave the snake an antibiotic injection.

Subhendu said: “The string was strangling the intestines of the snake. If it had had not been removed, the snake would not have been able to eat.”

The patient is currently under observation and being treated daily for its wound. It is getting its natural aggression back, hinting a remarkable recovery. After the wound heals the snake will be released in the wild.

A five-feet-long monocled cobra got trapped in a snare meant for trapping birds in a forest near Bhubaneswar in eastern India.

As the cobra tugged desperately to escape the snare, plastic strings cut deeply into its skin and flesh, leaving it in severe pain.

On 26 February, a local resident called Snake Helpline saying a snake had entered his house. A volunteer, Arun Baral, went to the house and rescued the snake. Seeing its condition, he brought it to Subhendu Mallik, General Secretary of Snake Helpline, who in turn took it to
Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT) for treatment.

Professor Indramani Nath of the Department of Veterinary Surgery took an X-ray of the snake on a C-arm machine to assess the depth of the wound. He found that though the bones and ribs were intact, the snake’s skin and flesh were badly damaged.

There was no bleeding and the wound site looked blackish, which indicated that the snake had been suffering for nearly a week. Prof. Nath sprayed a local anaesthetic and removed the plastic string gently. He cleaned the wound and gave the snake an antibiotic injection.

Subhendu said: “The string was strangling the intestines of the snake. If it had had not been removed, the snake would not have been able to eat.”

The patient is currently under observation and being treated daily for its wound. It is getting its natural aggression back, hinting a remarkable recovery. After the wound heals the snake will be released in the wild.