King cobra brought to Madhya Pradesh in exchange for a tiger dies, setting back CM’s pet project

The king cobra was on a diet of live snakes and was housed in an enclosure equipped with temperature control mechanisms to beat the searing Bhopal heat. “We had installed a humidifier in its enclosure, among many other equipment, to regulate its temperature. The snake also died after the high heat phase in Bhopal had passed.”

Getting the king cobra to MP had long been on Yadav’s wishlist. In January, while addressing the inaugural session of a two-day Indian Forest Service meet and forestry conference in Bhopal, he had said, “I said we want the king cobra, which has vanished from our state.”

“When tigers move in the jungle, animals begin making sounds, indicating their presence. Similarly, when a king cobra slithers on the ground, other snakes flee from their holes, and the king cobra hunts them… Since the king cobra has vanished, districts like Dindori, where I was minister-in-charge, have seen up to 200 snakebite deaths annually.”

In April, two king cobras arrived from Karnataka’s Pilikula Biological Park as part of an animal exchange programme, wherein two tigers were exchanged for the venomous snakes. MP now has one king cobra left, in Indore. (Express Photo)

In April, two king cobras arrived from Karnataka’s Pilikula Biological Park as part of an animal exchange programme, wherein two tigers were exchanged for the venomous snakes. MP now has one king cobra left, in Indore.

After bringing the snakes, wildlife officials had plans to initiate ex-situ conservation and breeding at Van Vihar. In May, one of the male king cobras was sent to Indore zoo for a breeding programme, in an event attended by the CM.

The same month, Yadav ordered a census of snakes in his state, saying that the absence of conservation efforts was the reason the king cobra had disappeared from Madhya Pradesh.