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The media is fired up about a video showing a 12-foot-long, parched King Cobra drinking water from a water bottle. The video first uploaded by a YouTube channel called 'Uttara Kannada News' shows a man in khaki giving water to the snake.
Mashable India, was one of the first to put the video out and said that severe drought prevailing across Karnataka had resulted in the cobra straying into a village and desperately looking for water.
One of the men seen in the video giving water to the snake is CN Naykka, the Deputy Range Forest Officer of Karwar forest range. He had rescued the cobra along with snake expert Raghavendra
Though Naykka is surprised that the video has gone viral, he refuted claims of drought in the region and also said that such instances were common during summer months.
The forest officer also said that this is the mating season and cobras wandering around the area was a common occurrence, which happens almost every year.
“Whenever a snake wanders into civilian-populated areas, we first offer it water. There is nothing sensational about it. The Kali River, which runs through the Karwar Forest Range is flush with water and so are the backwaters located near the Kaiga Power Plant. During summer, many different birds and animals come for water including cobras,” Naykka added.
(This story was originally published in The News Minute.)
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