Snake rescuer bitten by venomous cobra lives to tell the tale

"Snake rescuer bitten by venomous cobra lives to tell the tale"

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Sumesh RajanMumbai: August 21, 2018

A snake rescuer in India almost paid with his life when a venomous cobra snake bit him while he was rescuing it.

35-years-old Tushar Patel of Dharampur town in Valsad district of Gujarat is lucky to be alive to tell his tale after being bitten by the venomous snake which he mishandled during the rescue.

“For the past 14 years, I have been rescuing snakes in and around Dharampur. Till now I have rescued over 5000 snakes. Spectacled Cobra, Krait, Bamboo Pit Viper, Saw Scaled Viper and Russel’s Viper are some of the most poisonous snakes found in our area. On July 25, I got a call from workers in a scrap godown in Valod Faliya close to my house, about a Spectacled Cobra lurking there. I found the Cobra slithering near a parked car and was rescuing it when it suddenly bit me on my right hand,” said Patel.

He added, “It was the first time that I have been bitten by a snake while rescuing.”

A video shot by one of the workers at scrap yard shows Patel using a hook-like rod to pin down the four and a half feet adult Cobra, and grab it by its head. While he was putting the cobra into the bottle and was about to close the lid, the now unclasped but agitated Cobra sank its fangs onto Patel’s right hand.

A cool and composed Patel then frees himself from the snake’s clutches and manages to bottle up the snake successfully this time. After which an associate of his tikes a kerchief around his wrist to slow down the snake venom from spreading in his body, and rushes him to a hospital nearby.

“Within five minutes of the snake bite, I rushed to Shri Sainath Hospital in our town where Dr D C Patel, a snake bite specialist, treated me. For three days I was battling for life and was comatose due to the venom in my system. However, as I had received proper medical treatment in time, I am alive today. I was discharged from the hospital after nine days. Today, my hand where the snake had bitten me still has minor problems and I am undergoing treatment for it. Otherwise, I am fine. This incident will not hamper me from rescuing snakes in future,” said Patel.