In a shocking video that has surfaced on social media, an elderly woman in can be seen dragging a cobra across the street by its tail-end before throwing it away.
The video, shared by Indian Forest Services officer Susanta Nanda, shows the decrepit, old woman yanking the snake by its tail to the edge of the village where she simply lassoes it back into the forest in one clean swipe.
"Grandma that’s not the way to treat a cobra," a surprised Nanda, who often shared videos of wildlife from across India, wrote on Twitter.
Grandma that’s not the way to treat a COBRA😳 pic.twitter.com/RkQg8gdBQk
— Susanta Nanda IFS (@susantananda3) May 26, 2020
While the location of the video or the identity of the woman remains unknown, the video has managed to garner several reactions and comments on Twitter.
While netizens agreed that the snake could have been treated kindly, many praised the woman for her skill and for releasing the snake back into the wild instead of beating it or killing it. Yet others had suggestions for the IFS officer that included involving locals like the woman in the vides - who clearly knew what she was doing - in conservation efforts.
What did I just see 😱
— Anita Chauhan (@anita_chauhan80) May 26, 2020
Damn that was a King Cobra
Khatron k khiladi. She didn't look back even once so looks like she has done this before. Good that it was finally released otherwise it doesn't take much effort for others to take a life.
— Chittaranjan (@ChittaPattnaik) May 26, 2020
She definitely knows what she is doing.Why dont you absorb such people into the wildlife protection mechanism- traditional handlers of snakes, bees, Bear etc. Why allow modern edu to be an entry barrier that ignores skills?
— Rahul Swami (@swamiiii) May 26, 2020
Named as "Vulnerable" on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List since 2010, King Cobras are considered to be one of the most venomous snakes in the world. There are no known cures to cobra-bite venom.
The video appeared days after a video of a man giving a bath to a king cobra went viral on Twitter.