A 20-Foot King Cobra Slips Into a Teknaf Kitchen; Forest Officials Rescue It Instead of Letting a Crowd Kill It

A woman in Teknaf, Cox's Bazar, came face to face with an enormous king cobra when she went into her kitchen to make tea. The dawn incident spread panic through the neighbourhood and drew more than a hundred people, but thanks to the forest department and local conservation workers the snake was rescued and released in a forest instead of being killed.

The incident took place at Noakhalipara village in Teknaf Sadar Union. After the dawn call to prayer on Wednesday, Shabe Meraj, a woman in her sixties, went into the kitchen to make tea. As she stepped in, she heard hissing and saw a huge snake there.

Neighbours rushed in at her screams. As word spread, many of them prepared to kill the snake, and the situation reached a point where the venomous animal's life was in danger from the crowd.

The first to step forward to rescue it was Nur Mohammad of nearby Rajarchhara village, a member of the Community Patrol Group formed to involve local people in forest conservation. Shabe Meraj's son, Chhaiyadul Amin, informed him at dawn and he went to the scene.

Nur Mohammad said that when he arrived, around 100 people had gathered to find the snake and kill it. He warned the crowd about the wildlife law, telling them that killing this snake is an offence, and then informed the forest department.

Forest officials arrived quickly. Nur Mohammad said the snake was 20 feet long and weighed 7 kilograms, and in the officials' presence he himself put it into a sack.

The rescued snake was released in the Jahajpura gorjan forest at Shikhlali, about a kilometre from the spot. The huge snake that had entered the locality thus survived, and the villagers' panic subsided.

Touhidul Islam, range officer of Shilkhali under the Cox's Bazar South Forest Division, said it was a king cobra, a snake very beneficial for the environment. When they reached Noakhalipara after receiving the news, they found many people gathered with sticks to kill it.

He said they had difficulty restraining the crowd, and that after much effort the snake was rescued and released far away. He added that local people were even angry that the snake had not been killed.

Snake expert Md Abu Saeed, who has worked with snakes for a long time, said Bangladesh has 107 species of snake according to the latest information, of which 32 are venomous. Among venomous snakes the king cobra is the largest, and it is the world's longest venomous snake.

Abu Saeed believes the king cobra feeds on rat snakes, which live around homesteads and farmland, so it may have entered the kitchen while chasing a rat snake.

Experts also recalled the legal side. Under the wildlife conservation and safety law, killing this snake carries up to three years in jail or a fine of three lakh taka for a first offence, rising to five years or five lakh taka for a repeat offence.

The king cobra is listed as vulnerable, at risk of extinction, by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, and habitat loss from deforestation has put it under multiple pressures. The Teknaf incident therefore stands not only as a moment of panic, but also as a notable example of wildlife protection awareness.