Angry activists have filed a complaint after a snake rescuer allegedly instigated a fight between a cobra and a mother dog, who was protecting her litter.<br /><br />A video of the incident shows the ferocious fight between the cobra and the dog. Four pups died of snake bite as the cobra was captured by a snake rescuer, called Mirza Arif. <br /><br />The incident occurred at a home in Bhadrak town in Odisha, India, where a dog had taken shelter under the staircase of a house along with her seven pups. <br /><br />On September 17, the owner of the house, Bijay Parida, heard the dog barking. When he went to check he was shocked to see a standoff between a monocled cobra and the dog.<br /><br />The snake, which had come to eat the pups, had already killed two of them and the mother dog was barking loudly to save her brood.<br /><br />He called Mirza, who managed to rescue the snake. <br /><br />Animal rights activists say Mirza aggravated the situation by instigating a fight to create a spectacle. <br /><br />Subhendu Mallik, Honorary Wildlife Warden, said: “Mirza delayed the rescue and pushed the cobra towards the dog with a hook.” <br /><br />Santosh Das of People For Animals, who has filed a complaint with senior forest officials and Union Minister Maneka Gandhi, said: “Mirza violated wildlife and prevention of cruelty laws. He intentionally pushed the snake towards the dog.”<br /><br />Mirza denied the allegations and said he could not rescue the snake straight away as the space under staircase was narrow.<br /><br />“I went down on my knees to catch the snake and was worried the snake or the dog would attack me. It was a struggle and it took me 30 minutes to rescue the snake.”
