The incident took place in Noakhalipara of Sadar Union in Cox's Bazar's Teknaf upazila. Early Wednesday morning, shortly after the Fajr adhan, sixty-year-old Sobe Meraj went into her kitchen to make tea. As soon as she stepped inside, she heard a loud hissing sound and spotted a massive snake.
Startled by her screams, neighbors rushed to the scene and prepared to kill the reptile. However, thanks to the intervention of the Forest Department, the environmentally vital venomous snake was spared and its life was saved.
Nur Mohammad, a resident of neighboring Rajarchhara village and a member of the Community Patrol Group (CPG)—a local initiative formed to involve communities in forest conservation—was the first to arrive to help rescue the snake. Nur Mohammad told Chitra Post that Sobe Meraj's son, Soyedul Amin, informed him early in the morning that a snake had entered their house. Upon arrival, he found about a hundred people gathered with the intent of hunting down and killing the reptile.
Nur Mohammad warned the gathered crowd about wildlife conservation laws, explaining that killing such snakes is a punishable offense. Simultaneously, he notified the Forest Department, whose personnel promptly arrived at the scene.
According to Nur Mohammad, the king cobra measured 20 feet in length and weighed 7 kilograms. Later, in the presence of forest officials, Nur Mohammad safely packed the snake into a sack. It was subsequently released into the Jhaharpura Garjan forest in Shilkhalia, about a kilometer away from the scene.
When contacted, Touhidul Islam, the range officer of Shilkhalia under the Cox's Bazar South Forest Division, told Chitra Post that it was a king cobra, a species highly beneficial to the ecosystem. Upon receiving the report, forest officials rushed to Noakhalipara only to find a large crowd gathered with sticks, determined to kill the snake.
"We had a hard time holding the crowd back," Touhid said. "After a lot of effort, we managed to rescue the snake and release it safely into a remote forest area. Locals even questioned us as to why we didn't kill the snake..."
