26 cobra hatchlings rescued after mother snake found dead in Bantwal

Mangaluru: As many as 26 spectacled cobra hatchlings were rescued from Peraje village in Bantwal taluk after the mother snake was found dead beneath the soil at a house belonging to former Army personnel KT Naik.

The incident came to light during land-levelling work using an earthmover machine last week. Earthmover machine owner Janardhan Kuppepadavu noticed an injured snake at the site and immediately alerted rescuer Tejas Puttur, popularly known as Snake Tejas.

According to locals and rescuers, the cobra had been staying in the same spot for several days after laying eggs. It is suspected that the snake was accidentally buried under mud during the levelling work. The reptile is believed to have struggled to emerge before eventually dying due to dehydration.

“The mother snake’s carcass helped us trace the hatchlings. Without spotting it, the babies would likely have remained buried underground,” Tejas said.

A detailed search of the area led to the rescue of all 26 cobra hatchlings from beneath the soil. The snakelets were later kept under observation for nearly a week, before being safely released into the forest on Wednesday.

Forest department officials, including RFO Sunil D’Souza, DYFO Ravi, and FG Dayananda and Raghav, assisted in the rescue and release operation.

In another interesting development, Tejas also discovered 18 python eggs around 50m away from the same location. The eggs are currently being kept under observation under artificial incubation. This incident came to light after the locals informed Tejas that they had spotted a python in the area.

Tejas said, “This is the first time I have rescued 26 cobra hatchlings together at one spot,” adding that he has rescued nearly 150 cobra snakelets in total so far, out of about 8,000 rescues undertaken.