Cobra rescued from near Chhatrapati statue outside Mumbai airport

Mumbai, June 4 (IANS) A snake expert successfully rescued a 4-feet-long Indian Spectacled Cobra from the small garden adjacent to the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj outside the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Vile Parle East, here on Tuesday.“At around 11.50 a.m., we got a call that a large snake was spotted around the statue near the airport following which we rushed to the spot,” said the Secretary of Wildlife Animal Protection & Rescue Association (WAPRA), Atul Kamble.He also contacted the Range Forest Officer Roshan Shinde and the local police who also reached there for the operation.When Kamble and others arrived, they were informed that the unlikely visitor was spotted when a gardener had gone there to tend to the plants.Shocked and scared, the gardener alerted others who contacted the WAPRA, while he kept an eye on the cobra until the rescue teams arrived.Kamble, along with a police officer named Sachin More and others, carefully rescued the snake without causing any injuries, took it away, and later released it into its natural habitat.When asked how the venomous reptile managed to reach the crowded area with heavy traffic, Kamble said that some Mumbai Metro digging works are going on in the surroundings and the snake may have emerged from its hole to hide in the cool comforts of the garden, but was luckily spotted and saved.–IANSqn/arm