A two-year-old boy in India has miraculously killed a venomous cobra by biting its head after the snake coiled around his arm while he played outside his home on Friday.
Govinda Kumar, the young boy, was rushed to a local health centre and later transferred to the Government Medical College Hospital (GMCH) in Bettiah for specialist care after he lost consciousness due to swallowing some of the cobra’s venom.
According to relatives, Govinda saw the snake and threw a piece of brick at it, causing the snake to react and lunge at him.
However, he quickly reacted by biting the snake’s head, killing it almost instantly.
“I was moving firewood near the house and the cobra came out.
The child perhaps saw the snake moving and caught hold of it,” said Mateshwari Devi, Govinda’s grandmother.
“When we saw the snake in the child’s hand, everyone rushed towards him, but in the meantime, he already bit the snake, killing it on the spot.”
Dr. Surab Kumar, the medic in charge of treating the toddler, stated that timely treatment saved Govinda’s life.
“The venom did affect Govinda, but not fatally.
The child had eaten a part of the cobra and the venom had gone into his digestive tract, unlike in the cases where the cobra bites the person and venom goes into blood and triggers neurotoxicity.”
Govinda was given anti-allergy medication and was placed under doctors’ observation until his discharge on Saturday.