: A 13 feet-long male king cobra, weighing around 15 kg, was caught from a village near Kollur in Udupi district, forest Department officials said.
The king cobra was caught by Gururaj Sanil, a reputed snake catcher in the area, on Tuesday from Horatti village in Eradu Kunyadi in Kollur.
It was first spotted by one Rajeev Shetty, who reported the matter to the Forest department, who sought the help of Gururaj to catch the highly venomous species.
The King Cobra was caught and later released in the Mookambika Reserve Forests, the officials said.
Gururaj Sanil said this was one of the most exciting experiences in his career as snake catcher as king kobras normally do not respond to tricks to lure them to get into a sack. Snakes would bite only when they were harmed, he said.
King cobras, largely found in the Western Ghats, feed mostly on rat snakes and lizards. Sanil said it was the 54th king cobra catch in his career in which he had trapped more than 15,000 cobras belonging to 47 species.
He had also treated hundreds of injured snakes and saved more than 1,200 snake eggs from beneath the earth for artificial hatching.
Sanil said his third book about his experiences as a snake catcher was slated to be released next month.
