Rescuer saves Indian cobra from swallowing cough medicine bottle in eastern India
by Aditi VermaIn an extraordinary rescue, Subhendu Mallik, General Secretary of Snake Helpline, successfully helped an Indian cobra regurgitate a cough medicine bottle stuck in its mouth in eastern India’s Odisha.
The incident took place at Bhubaneswar located in the Khordha district on July 3.
Visuals showed the cobra, visibly struggling, had inadvertently swallowed a medicine syrup bottle, leaving it stuck in its mouth. With careful maneuvers and steady hands, one rescuer gently applied pressure to the snake’s lower jaw, where the bottle was lodged. Slowly but surely, the bottle began to emerge, inch by inch, from the cobra’s mouth. After a tense and delicate operation, the bottle finally slid out, relieving the snake of its ordeal.
A dramatic rescue unfolded as Subhendu Mallik, the General Secretary of Snake Helpline, responded to a distress call about an Indian cobra. The snake had ingested a bottle-like substance and was struggling to regurgitate it. The caller mentioned that the cobra had been attempting to rid itself of the bottle but was unable to do so.
Upon arrival, Subhendu found the cobra in a dire state, struggling to expel the large bottle-like object from its mouth. Severely dehydrated, the cobra had been seen with a bulging stomach for the past 15 days, according to local residents.
With careful precision, Subhendu used the hook end of his tool to gently widen the cobra’s lower jaw. Once the rim of the bottle base was freed from the snake’s jaw, the cobra managed to regurgitate the plastic bottle on its own. The object turned out to be a cough medicine bottle, likely mistaken for prey due to the scent of a rodent.
After ensuring the cobra was safe, Subhendu released it into a suitable natural habitat outside the city. Reflecting on the incident, Subhendu explained, “A rodent may have rubbed against the medicine bottle that was thrown carelessly. The prey’s odor must have prompted the snake to swallow the bottle in a serious judgmental error. I was lucky and survived the ordeal.”