Cachar: Female King Cobra dies after getting trapped in a fishing net; Stuffed specimen kept in Assam University

“Sorry King!” reacts Dr. Parthankar Choudhury, Professor, Department of Ecology and Environment Sciences, Assam University, Silchar. He has put together a group that attends distress calls and rescues animal. Their 100% success rate got breached. A King Cobra died.

The floods have resulted in significant rise in fishing activities. The inundated areas are hotbed to catch fish for the locals. One very common mode of catching fish is the special type of fishing nets called the “Fash Jal” (trapping net). “The deadly fishing net ( faas-Jaal) used by the local fisherman are causing harm to many aquatic animals including herperofauna. Last week also, one such snake got entangled in a Faas Jaal at rongpur area, which was rescued alive.”

In such a deadly net, got trapped a King Cobra in a village area near Allenpur, Dwarbond, Cachar. The snake rescue team led by Choudhury was informed about it, but by the time the research scholar, Tuhin Chakraborty reached the spot, the snake had succumbed. “Whenever we get any distress call, the rescue team immediately rushes to the spot. In all earlier cases, we had been 100% able to rescue & release the animal, but this is the first case that we had been unsuccessful. Sorry, King..!,” says Choudhury, while speaking with Barak Bulletin.

The snake was brought to the department in Assam University by Tuhin Chakraborty, and then, stuffing was done by professor Choudhury along with Chakraborty and scholar Biswajit Singh. The stuffed specimen is kept in the Dept. of Ecology & Environmental Science, Assam University. “It was a female King Cobra. Length 9ft. weighing approximately 4 kilograms,” informed professor Choudhury.

For him, removing the skin of the snake safely was a challenging task. “After leaving the college job since long, I’ve stopped the practice of excising animals. Basically being a Zoology student, I was always good in dissecting Laboratory animals, although over past almost 20 yrs or so, have not done any practice. The animal biology background helped me to get confidence in taking up the Stuffing exercise,” Choudhury shares.

He adds, “Longitudinal incision in the body of the dead snake was made through its ventral side. Viscera and other abdominal tissues were removed. Peritoneal fluids were soaked with tissue paper & cotton… then, 10% formaldehyde was injected in the body tissues at several places… then, cotton rolls were inserted to fill up the abdominal vacant spaces… after that, it was stitched to give it normal shape of the snake. The specimen thus ready, was kept immersed in a liquid (10% formaldehyde solution in distilled water (in a big jar). The specimen thus prepared is expected to remain as it is for coming 40-50 years, at the minimum.”

Tuhin Chakraborty collected the dead animal and has helped professor during the surgery. Others who have helped during the operation are Mr. Biswajit Singh and Miss Saheli Das Purkayastha, all from the same dept.

Professor Choudhury has urged both the Fishery & Forest Dept to be more vigilant against using “Tapping net/Fash Jal” type of fishing net, which he informs is “actually banned”.