King Cobra gets perfect V-Day gift

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King Cobra gets perfect V-Day gift

 

Shibu Thomas, TNN, 11 February 2010, 03:24am IST

 

MUMBAI: Four days before Valentine's Day, a 16-foot-long captured King

Cobra, which is currently lodged at the Mahatma Gandhi Zoo in Solapur,

received the perfect gift from the Bombay high court.

 

The reptile's two-year-long stay in captivity may finally come to an end

with the court on Wednesday ordering the zoo authorities to find a

companion for the king of snakes. " Find a mate for the cobra or release

it in the wild,'' a division bench of acting chief Justice J N Patel and

Justice B R Gavai orally ordered the Solapur municipal corporation.

 

The King Cobra is the world's longest venomous snake, found mostly in

forested areas. It is listed as an endangered species and has the

reputation of killing a human being with a single bite.

 

The giant reptile at the Solapur zoo found its way there after forest

officials rescued it from a monk in April 2007. According to the PIL

filed by Solapur resident Shrigururaj Pore, instead of releasing it in

the wild after rescuing it, the cobra was handed over to the local

corporation. The petition has alleged violation of the provisions of the

Wildlife (Protection) Act.

 

Advocate Ashutosh Kulkarni, counsel for Pore, told the court that the

cobra was being kept in a glass enclosure in the zoo in pitiable

conditions. " The King Cobra needs a humid or rainy weather, " but the

petition claimed, " Solapur with its dry and hot weather throughout the

year was not conducive for it " .

 

The petitioner also expressed fear that due to the small enclosure,

there was a risk that the King Cobra could suffer spinal injuries.

 

Pore also alleged that proper food was not being provided to the cobra,

which is known as a snake eater and its diet consists of other serpents

and smaller cobras.

 

The corporation has also started exhibiting the king of snakes for a fee

and earned around Rs 2 lakh in the last two years, the petition said.

 

Advocate Kulkarni further pointed out that the Central Zoo Authority had

written to the corporation saying that it could keep the cobra on the

condition that they find a mate for it.

 

The court has directed the corporation and the CZA to file their

affidavits on the issue in four weeks' time.