King cobra sighted in Chanakyapuri, a first for capital

King cobra sighted in Chanakyapuri, a first for capital

Priyangi.Agarwal@timesofindia.com 02.10.2024 

New Delhi : The forest and wildlife department rescued a king cobra that was spotted in a tree in Chanakyapuri on Tuesday. Forest officials said this was the first sighting of a king cobra in Delhi. Since the venomous snake was found outside the under-construction Uttarakhand Bhawan, officials suspect the cobra may have travelled in a vehicle from Uttarakhand carrying construction material. 

The snake is listed as a vulnerable species on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of threatened species. Rajesh Tandon, deputy range officer of the west wildlife division, said, “After we received information that a snake had been spotted, we immediately reached the spot. The king cobra, around 10 feet long, had climbed a tree.” The forest department contacted Delhi Fire Services for two fire tenders. 

The wildlife team used the hydraulic ladder from the fire tenders to reach the branch where the cobra had taken shelter. Using a snake hook, the team successfully rescued the snake. “It was a challenging rescue operation,” said Tandon. A video of the rescue operation, which is circulating on social media, shows a crowd clapping in appreciation after the snake was safely removed. Several residents in the area watched the rescue from their balconies. 

The king cobra is currently being kept at a forest department rescue facility. “This was the first sighting of a king cobra in Delhi. It is believed the reptile crawled into a vehicle from Uttarakhand and ended up in Delhi,” said Tandon. He added that the snake would be released into Rajaji National Park in Uttarakhand, as Delhi is not its natural habitat. 

Gaurav Barhadiya, assistant professor in the environmental studies department at Ramanujan College, University of Delhi, noted that Uttarakhand has a growing population of king cobras. “Over the years, the population of king cobras in Uttarakhand has increased, with sightings in Dehradun, Mussoorie, and other areas. It seems that this king cobra took shelter in a vehicle to regulate its temperature and travelled to Delhi,” said Barhadiya, who has been studying snakes in Delhi for 10 years. He added, “We don’t have any king cobras in Delhi at all. The city is not a habitat for king cobras."