Cobra swallows 11 eggs, farmer gets them back all in one piece

A king cobra that had swallowed 11 fowl eggs in Palghar district’s Saphale was caught on Wednesday. The owner of the farm found the snake moving in a sluggish manner due to its heavy stomach and he then called in a snake catcher, who made the snake vomit the eggs. Strangely, not a single egg that the snake had swallowed had cracked, and it was released in Tandulwadi forest after the forest department in Palghar was informed about it.

The 5-foot-long king cobra entered the farm of Balu Raut, a resident of Saphale in Palghar, where it swallowed the 11 eggs. Raut was shocked to find the eggs missing from his farm. Then, when he found the snake nearby moving sluggishly with a heavy stomach, he suspected it of having swallowed the eggs.

He said, “I informed Prashant Mankar, a Saphale local, who reached the site and found the snake sitting still since it had still not digested the eggs.” Using his knowledge of snakes, Mankar managed to force the cobra to vomit out all the 11 eggs.

Surprisingly, not one of the eggs was found to have been damaged, much to Raut’s glee as each ‘desi’ (country) hen’s egg sells for around Rs 15. “We trapped the cobra and released it in the Tandulwadi forest, after informing the forest department in Palghar, as the king cobra is a protected animal under the Wildlife Act,” said Mr Mankar.