Why bringing a King Cobra to Bhopal wasn't a good idea
One of the two King Cobras brought to Madhya Pradesh from Mangalore zoo died at the Van Vihar National Park's snake enclosure. Said to be five years old, the snake was found dead by the caretaker in the morning of June 18. Officials scanned CCTV footage of the enclosure to get an idea of what could have killed the snake. Though usually two veterinarians conduct the postmortem of the other animals like tigers listed in Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, to carry out the snake's postmortem a team of five veterinarians, including some called from outside Bhopal, was brought in—perhaps due to the sensitivities involved. They prima facie reported respiratory distress as the cause of death. Viscera samples were sent to the state wildlife health college at Jabalpur for tests.The King Cobra is not a species endemic to the state and had been brought to Van Vihar on April 6 at the behest of the chief minister. Forest department officials had scouted around the country looking for the cobras before zeroing in on two male specimens at the Mangalore zoo. The one still alive has now been shifted to the Indore zoo.advertisementThe CM had in a meeting of IFS officers announced that King Cobras should be brought to MP from elsewhere. Though they are expected to know wildlife management, the officials rather feebly protested the CM's demand before giving in. The CM had said he wanted the King Cobra back in MP because the population of other snake species had increased a lot. He cited a large number of snake bite cases in Dindori, a district in eastern MP where the state government had to shell out lakhs in compensation. The CM felt the presence of King Cobras would check the population of other snakes.Later, the CM also ordered a snake census, which has never been done in India and is dismissed by experts as carrying little conservation value.
While MP has done exceptionally well in translocation of species, none of the species introduced before the King Cobras were brought in had been alien. In other words, all of them, such as the cheetahs or even Gaur in Bandhavgarh and swamp deer in Satpura National Park, had existed in these habitats before they were wiped out due to local factors.advertisementTop officials say the department is also finalising getting zebras, rhinos and giraffes from Africa to be kept at Van Vihar National Park. However, when conceptualized in the early 1980s, this national park was meant to house species endemic to MP, says a former official associated with the park's setting up.Subscribe to India Today Magazine
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Why bringing a King Cobra to Bhopal wasn't a good idea
One of the two King Cobras brought to Madhya Pradesh from Mangalore zoo died at the Van Vihar National Park's snake enclosure. Said to be five years old, the snake was found dead by the caretaker in the morning of June 18. Officials scanned CCTV footage of the enclosure to get an idea of what could have killed the snake. Though usually two veterinarians conduct the postmortem of the other animals like tigers listed in Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, to carry out the snake's postmortem a team of five veterinarians, including some called from outside Bhopal, was brought in—perhaps due to the sensitivities involved. They prima facie reported respiratory distress as the cause of death. Viscera samples were sent to the state wildlife health college at Jabalpur for King Cobra is not a species endemic to the state and had been brought to Van Vihar on April 6 at the behest of the chief minister. Forest department officials had scouted around the country looking for the cobras before zeroing in on two male specimens at the Mangalore zoo. The one still alive has now been shifted to the Indore CM had in a meeting of IFS officers announced that King Cobras should be brought to MP from elsewhere. Though they are expected to know wildlife management, the officials rather feebly protested the CM's demand before giving in. The CM had said he wanted the King Cobra back in MP because the population of other snake species had increased a lot. He cited a large number of snake bite cases in Dindori, a district in eastern MP where the state government had to shell out lakhs in compensation. The CM felt the presence of King Cobras would check the population of other the CM also ordered a snake census, which has never been done in India and is dismissed by experts as carrying little conservation value. While MP has done exceptionally well in translocation of species, none of the species introduced before the King Cobras were brought in had been alien. In other words, all of them, such as the cheetahs or even Gaur in Bandhavgarh and swamp deer in Satpura National Park, had existed in these habitats before they were wiped out due to local officials say the department is also finalising getting zebras, rhinos and giraffes from Africa to be kept at Van Vihar National Park. However, when conceptualized in the early 1980s, this national park was meant to house species endemic to MP, says a former official associated with the park's setting to India Today Magazine
