In a tense rescue, glue was removed from a baby cobra with rescuers moving their bare fingers tantalisingly close to the fangs of the reptile.<br /><br />Baby cobras are born with full sacks of venoms and fangs, which can kill an adult. <br /><br />The rescue was so risky the cobra bit the first rescuer, who had to be rushed to the hospital. <br /><br />The snake was found stuck in a glue trap inside a shopping mall at Baripada in Odisha, India.<br /><br />The employees of the mall called a local snake expert Krushnachandra Gochhayat for rescue. Krushnachandra removed the baby cobra from the trap and removed glue from its body. <br /><br />While he was removing the glue from the head, the baby cobra bit him and latched on to his middle finger with one fang. <br /><br />Krushnachandra managed to free his finger, left the cobra in a basket and rushed to the nearest government hospital, where doctors administered 10 vials of polyvalent Snake Venom Antiserum (ASV). <br /><br />As he recovered, Krushnachandra called Snake Helpline, whose volunteers traveled 500 km to finish the rescue. <br /><br />They pinned down the head of the baby cobra gently and then rubbed off the glue with baby oil. After thoroughly cleaning the cobra they released it in a water body. <br /><br />Subhendu Mallik, who led the second rescue effort, said: “It was scary as it involved direct contact with the head of the cobra. Pinning it down was not easy as it was slippery with glue.”<br /><br />“People should stop using rodent glue traps as they are fast becoming death traps for reptiles and birds,” he added.
