A Common Cobra trapped inside an empty milk bottle was safely rescued on the outskirts of Odisha's Bhubaneswar on Tuesday, July 9. A resident of Jamukoli spotted the cobra in his backyard. On closer inspection, Dilip Khatei found that the snake was unable to move as its head was stuck inside the glass bottle and called the Snake Helpline to rescue the snake.
According to Odishabytes.com, a volunteer, Bideshi Mohapatra, from the Snake Helpline, reached the spot to rescue the reptile. He first tried to gently pull the 3.5-foot snake out of the bottle, but it kept getting back into it.
After a few futile attempts, Bideshi informed Subhendu Mallik, the general secretary of the Snake Helpline. On being told by Subhendu, Bideshi carefully brought the trapped cobra to the Snake Helpline office. Subhendu feared that breaking the glass to free the cobra could potentially injure the snake with the sharp glass edges.
Subhendu lubricated the snake’s body with coconut oil and gently pulled it out. The oil helped the snake’s body slip out easily and smoothly without causing any harm.
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“The cobra inserted its head into the bottle, finding its prey inside. It killed the mole rat by injecting venom. After swallowing the rodent, its body got swollen. The swollen neck prevented the snake from retracting its head, and the narrow rim of the bottle prevented the snake from swallowing the prey. It got stuck in a peculiar situation where it could not swallow the prey beyond its neck region nor leave it,” Subhendu said, reported by Odishabytes.com.