HEGDE (UTTARA KANNADA) : In a rare occurrence, a spectacled cobra was rescued after it swallowed a knife measuring over one foot in length and was suffering in pain. Cobras are known to devour rodents and chicken. However, this cobra, perhaps very hungry, swallowed a kitchen knife. The incident occurred at Hegde village, about 5 km away from Kumta town, at the residence of Govind Naik, a farmer.
“The knife which was kept near the window inside the kitchen had fallen outside the house. We saw it fall outside the window, but we did not step out after we spotted the snake there. We thought the reptile would go away, but it was stationary. Then we noticed that the knife was missing. I was wondering what happened and informed Pavan Naik, a snake rescuer from Uttara Kannada district, as the snake had not moved from the place,” Govind told TNIE.
“Since I saw this snake struggling, I guessed it might have swallowed the sharp object and called up Kumta’s Veterinary Assistant Adavait Bhat. We struggled for a long time to ensure that the knife was out. If we had left the knife as it is, the cobra would have died. After nearly an hour of efforts, we were able to retrieve the knife,” he informed.
To a question on how he found out that it had swallowed a knife in this case, he said that he reversed the struggling reptile and found the shape of the object in its stomach and decided to take a vet’s help. Accordingly, Pavan held the snake’s mouth open and the vet assistant used forceps to take out the knife. The entire operation went on for an hour.
The cobra has now been released into the forests. “It is not severely injured though there are minor cuts. The reptiles can heal on their own,” he added.
Pavan said that a snake eating a metal object is indeed baffling. “It is a surprise to me, but since these species have evolved over millions of years, their digestive tracts have changed constantly and have become flexible. It changes according to the shape of the objects they devour. In short, I believe cobras fail to zero-in on their prey and so these unusual things happen,” he said.
Pavan said that he has come across such a situation for the first time.