Now 12-foot king cobra rescued at Chittagong University

This is the second venomous snake of the same species rescued since Friday

Yet another king cobra has been rescued from the Chittagong University campus by a specialist snake rescue group.

The snake, approximately 12 feet long and weighing around six kilograms, was found near the Department of Dramatics on Sunday afternoon.

Dubbed the Society for Snake and Snakebite Awareness (3SA), the group found an eight-foot long king cobra near a stream behind the Arts Faculty on Friday night.

Snakes of this species were also recovered at the university in 2016 and 2021.

The university area is home to several venomous species, including black krait, banded krait, green pit viper and red-necked keelback.

Mohammad Rafiqul Islam, 3SA founder and a former Zoology student at the university, said students from the dramatics department called their helpline number to report the snake.

“We immediately moved to the scene and managed to rescue the snake in 30 minutes."

Ibrahim Khalil Al Haidar, the group’s advisor and an assistant professor of Zoology, blamed environmental reasons for the recent sighting of king cobras on the campus.

The hills to the west of the university are mainly occupied by the Forest Department and locals where various human activities including cultivation are ongoing, he said.

“As a result, the snakes' natural habitat is being damaged and they are moving to the localities in search of safe shelter," he maintained.

The assistant professor believes activities such as clearing weeds, setting fires to the hillocks and destroying habitats are also worsening the situation.

Haidar is now taking care of the two snakes and said they have not been freed on “academic grounds” because samples will be collected from them.

But he pledged to release the snakes into a natural forest in the southwest hills of the campus since ordinary people and students do not go there.