16-ft-long King Cobra caught in Ernakulam, released in forest

The huge sized King Cobra was captured by the forest officials with the help of Martin Meikkamali, a snake catcher. Many locals had gathered near the premises to get a glimpse of the King Cobra.

Ernakulam: A 16- foot-long King Cobra, that was seen atop a tamarind tree in the backyard of a house in Kothamangalam-Vadattupara in Ernakulam District, was captured by the Forest department officials with the help of a snake catcher, policemen, and fire force personnel, in a 20- hour-long rescue operation, here on Wednesday.

The snake was spotted on a tamarind tree in a plot near Vadattupara Poika Government School behind the Women’s society premises, on Tuesday afternoon.

The huge sized King Cobra was captured by the forest officials with the help of Martin Meikkamali, a snake catcher. The rescue operation which commenced on Tuesday continued through Wednesday. Many locals had gathered near the premises to get a glimpse of the King Cobra.

The efforts to capture the snake became harder as it climbed further up on to the smaller branches. A team of police with the Kuttambuzha Police Station, Fire force personnel from Kothamangalam, and a team including Sabu from the Forest Protection Force had reached the spot by Tuesday night. However, they returned by 2 am, after temporarily stopping the rescue operations.

The team led by Sabu resumed the rescue operations early on Wednesday morning. The snake was finally captured by cutting down the tree branches. The snake was later released into the Karimbani forests.