Somnath Mhatre, the snake rescuer. (Source: Smith Mhatre/Facebook)
An enthusiastic animal rescue worker, Somnath Mhatre, died after saving a cobra. After catching more than 100 serpents in his life time, the deadly cobra claimed his life. Reportedly, the Mumbai-based teenager rescued the snake from under a car in Navi Mumbai.
You’ll be shocked to know the reason of his death. A kiss of death from the cobra took the young boy’s life!
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A look at his Facebook account shows that the boy used to catch snakes and pull off deadly stunts with ease. Trying to follow the same tactics, he tried to plant a kiss on the cobra but it bit him instead. Police officials confirmed that he was admitted to a civic hospital with a venomous snakebite on his chest, but he surrendered to it three days later, the Times of India reported.
His death sparked resistance from animal rescue groups. Pawan Sharma of Resqink Association of Wildlife Welfare reportedly said, “It is very unfortunate that a young life has ended so abruptly. His Facebook profile has several pictures of him playing with snakes and even kissing a cobra. Such stunts must be strictly banned, which is why we have urged the Thane circle of the forest department to issue guidelines.”
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Another snake rescuer told the newspaper that forest officials used to issue ID cards for snake-catchers a few years ago but it was stopped “when cases of illegal wildlife activities connected to reptiles were reported”.
Extremely saddening, forest officials have called for strict action against such incidents and the ones pulling off kissing stunts with snakes just to get popular on social networking sites.
- The Indian Express website has been rated GREEN for its credibility and trustworthiness by Newsguard, a global service that rates news sources for their journalistic standards.
