A five-foot cobra in Haryana, India, survived emergency stomach surgery that revealed a surprising culprit: a black plastic bag.
Doctors at Lala Lajpat Rai University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, which treated the ailing reptile, said it was the first time they had encountered a plastic bag in a snake's stomach, according to The Tribune.
Here's what to know
A man named Gaurav, whom The Tribune said is known as "the Snake Man" for his rescue efforts, brought the cobra to the LUVAS veterinary clinic. There, Dr. Sandeep Saharan and Dr. Rohit Dhull found swelling in part of the cobra's stomach and noticed a dark object protruding from a wound there, The Tribune reported.
The object turned out to be a plastic bag, which the doctors said the snake had swallowed whole, likely because it contained food, milk, or another substance that attracted the cobra.
Before the procedure, veterinarians anesthetized the roughly five-foot snake. The surgery lasted about an hour, and after the cobra was stitched up, the team kept it under observation.
Saharan said the team had never found a polythene bag inside a snake's stomach before. He said veterinarians have seen comparable cases in cows and buffaloes, but discovering plastic in a cobra came as a surprise.
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Veterinarians said the cobra could have died if the plastic had stayed inside it much longer.
According to The Tribune, the hospital returned the snake to Gaurav, who will watch it for 10 days before re-examining it. If the cobra appears healthy enough then, it will be released back into its wild habitat.
Where can I learn more?
Similar rescues and close encounters highlight the kinds of trouble snakes can get into around people. These stories cover cobras found in Indian homes, emergency snake surgeries, a dramatic king cobra capture, a bizarre incident in Bihar, and a python stomach discovery in Florida.
• In Telangana, rescuers removed an Indian cobra from a home before relocating it safely.
• Rescuers rushed a gopher snake into emergency surgery after swallowing the wrong object.
• In southern India, a veteran handler calmly bagged a king cobra without protective gear.
• In Florida, a Burmese python's autopsy revealed an unexpected discovery in its stomach.
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