A resident in eastern India spotted a venomous cobra near his home and called a local helpline for assistance Snake Helpline for help on March 10.

A volunteer, Arun Kumar Baral, rescued the 3.5-feet monocled cobra, or Indian spitting cobra, from the location in Bhubaneswar, but found that it was very thin and limp.

The Snake Helpline team then took the snake to a local veterinary college, where Professor Indramani Nath took an X-Ray and found a foreign object inside the snake’s abdomen.

He decided that surgery was the only way to remove the foreign object. A team of surgeons put the cobra under general anesthesia and operated on it for 90 minutes.

After cutting through two layers of skin and flesh, a blue color plastic object became visible. As they pulled it out, it turned out to be a plastic cap of a whiskey bottle irresponsibly thrown into the wild.

General Secretary of Snake Helpline Subhendu Mallik, said: “The snake must have swallowed the cap at least three months ago and stopped eating after that due to severe pain. It was severely dehydrated and had zero reserve fat. People should not throw waste bottles in the open.”

Dr. Indramani Nath said: “The snake is doing well and will be under observation for a week.”

A resident of Bhubaneswar in eastern India spotted a cobra near his home and called Snake Helpline for help on March 10.

A volunteer, Arun Kumar Baral, rescued the 3.5-feet Monocled cobra but found that it was very thin and limp.

A Snake Helpline team took the snake to the College of Veterinary Science where Professor Indramani Nath took an X-Ray and found a foreign object inside the snake’s abdomen.

He decided that surgery was the only way to remove the foreign object. A team of surgeons put the cobra under general anesthesia and operated it for 90 minutes.

After cutting through two layers of skin and flesh, a blue color plastic material became visible. As they pulled it out it turned out to be a plastic cap of a whiskey bottle irresponsibly thrown in the wild.


General Secretary of Snake Helpline, Subhendu Mallik, said: “The snake must have swallowed the cap at least three months ago and stopped eating after that due to severe pain. It was severely dehydrated and had zero reserve fat. People should not throw waste bottles in the open.”

Dr. Indramani Nath said “The snake is doing well and will be under observation for a week.”