As many as 19 cobra snakelets were rescued from a residential premises near Ethiraj College for Women in Egmore, Chennai, after the house owner spotted several suspected snake eggs in an unused area behind the house.
The house owner noticed the eggs around noon two days ago and alerted the Forest Department. Officials from the Guindy Forest Department reached the spot and confirmed that the eggs belonged to a cobra.
During a detailed search, officials found that 39 cobra eggs had hatched underground and that the snakelets had emerged from them. As the eggs appeared to have hatched only a day or two earlier, officials suspected that the young snakes could be hiding nearby.
Forest officials conducted an intensive search for around four hours, examining concrete cracks and digging through unused portions of the premises. They eventually rescued 19 cobra snakelets from different hiding places.
The rescued snakelets were later released safely in a forest area in Chengalpattu.
As only 19 of the 39 snakelets were rescued, forest officials suspect that the remaining 20 could still be hiding beneath the house floor or in nearby unused areas. A search operation was conducted again the following day, but no additional snakelets were found.
Around 10 days ago, a large female cobra was rescued from the same residential premises by forest officials. Officials said the snakelets rescued now could be the offspring of the female cobra.
Forest officials are continuing their search for the remaining snakelets.
