A narrow well inside a house in Mandsaur, Madhya Pradesh, turned out to be hiding 20 cobras, triggering panic in the neighbourhood before a snake rescuer stepped in and carried every single one of them to safety in the forest without a single person or reptile getting hurt.
Cobras found inside a well in Samyak Diamond Colony
The incident took place in Mandsaur city's Samyak Diamond Colony, at the house of a man named Bherulal, where cobras were spotted inside a well built within the premises. Kamal Das Bairagi, the snake rescuer who was called in, was told that the narrow well did not just have one or two snakes but a large number of cobras hiding inside it. As soon as he got word, Bairagi rushed to the spot and began a careful, methodical rescue operation. One by one, all 20 cobras were pulled out of the well unharmed. Word of such a large number of cobras being found in a single spot spread quickly, drawing a crowd of curious onlookers to the site. Bairagi had to repeatedly ask the gathering to keep a safe distance so the delicate rescue could continue without any mishap.
Seven tankers of water were poured in to raise the well's level
According to Bairagi, he was first informed that baby cobras had been seen in a well belonging to a house in Samyak Colony on Sanjeet Road. Once he reached the spot, he realised the well was too deep for the rescue team to safely reach the snakes. To get around the problem, a water tanker was called in and water was poured into the well. After about 7 tankers of water had been emptied into it, the water level rose enough to bring the snakes within reach. Only then could the actual rescue begin, with Bairagi catching all 20 cobras one at a time and placing them securely inside plastic containers. Once every snake had been accounted for, they were transported and released into the forest so that neither the residents nor the snakes themselves came to any harm.
Why snakes surface during monsoon, and what to do if you spot one
Experts point out that during the monsoon, rainwater fills up snake burrows, forcing the reptiles to move out in search of dry, safe ground, which is why sightings around homes, wells and farmland tend to rise sharply in this season. Their advice is simple: never try to catch a snake on your own, since doing so can be extremely dangerous, and instead alert a trained snake rescuer or the forest department right away so the animal can be captured safely and released back into its natural habitat. That is exactly the approach followed in Mandsaur, where all 20 cobras were eventually rescued and returned to the forest without any injury to people or wildlife.
