9-foot-long cobra, 17 hatchlings caught from residential area

A nine-foot-long cobra along with 17 hatchlings were caught from a residential area in adjoining Navsari district.
The dreaded snake and the baby cobras had taken refuse in a hollow of a mango tree in the backyard of a farmer's house in Rahej village of Navsari district, about 200km here, village head Mukesh Patel said today.
On being spotted by the locals, members of a voluntary agency engaged in capturing snakes were called.
"After reaching the site, the volunteers waited for 30 minutes for the snake to come out from the hollow. However, when it failed to come out, these volunteers used a pipe to inject water inside the hollow," Patel said.

The young ones started coming out of the hole one by one and the cobra came at the last, the village sarpanch said, adding all were later handed over to wildlife authorities at Panjrapole in Navsari city.