A toddler has stunned his family after killing a venomous cobra – by biting its head.
Two-year-old Govinda Kumar fought back after the cobra coiled itself around his arm while he played outside his home in Bankatwa village in India on Friday.
Relatives said the boy saw the snake and threw a bit of brick at it, causing the snake to react and lunge at him.
However the boy quickly reacted, biting the snake’s head and killing it almost immediately.
Govinda’s grandmother, Mateshwari Devi, said: ‘I used to be moving firewood near the home and the cobra got here out. The kid perhaps saw the snake moving and caught hold of it.
‘After we saw the snake within the child’s hand, everyone rushed towards him, but within the meantime, he already bit the snake, killing it on the spot.’
Despite killing the snake Govinda was not unharmed – he lost consciousness not long after, because of swallowing a number of the cobra.
He was rushed to an area health centre before being moved to the Government Medical College Hospital (GMCH) in Bettiah for specialist care.
Dr Surab Kumar, the medic in command of treating the toddler, told The Telegraph: ‘Timely treatment saved Govinda’s life. The venom did affect Govinda, but not fatally.
‘The kid had eaten a component of the cobra and the venom had gone into his digestive tract, unlike within the cases where the cobra bites the person and venom goes into blood and triggers neurotoxicity.
‘The kid’s condition is currently stable, and treatment is being administered under the supervision of doctors.
‘The medical team is treating the kid, providing continuous medication, and he’s under remark.
‘We were surprised and cross-checked along with his parents multiple times to make sure the child was not bitten by the cobra to rule out that venom had not gone into his bloodstream.’
While in hospital Govinda was given anti-allergy medication and was placed under doctors’ remark until his discharge on Saturday.
Cobras are highly venomous, their venom in a position to kill a human inside hours by paralysing the respiratory system we use to breathe.
They’re considered one of the 4 most venomous snakes in India, alongside the common krait, Russel’s viper, and saw-scaled viper.
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