Two days after a pair of king cobras were pulled from a Chanthaburi house, snake rustlers in the province extracted another four-meter cobra from inside a truck.
Nattapol Suangam of the Asorapit Wittaya Project was in action again on March 24 after a call from Kamolchai Boonsawad, 39, at his cousin’s house in Songpeenong Subdistrict. In the garage, the giant snake had crawled up in the chassis of Kamolchai’s six-wheeled Hino.
Nattapol tried to hook the cobra, but it flared its head and evaded capture by crawling inside the engine compartment. He was then able to hook the snake and used his hands to pull it out. But the 15-kilogram reptile fought back, striking at him several times. Nattapol was unhurt.
It took Nattapol’s team time, but they finally pulled all 407 centimeters of cobra from the Hino and got it into a plastic box to take back to the hills for release.
Nattapol said many cobras are now being found in Chanthaburi as the province’s many orchards fill with fruit. In February and March he and other snake rustlers may catch up to 100 snakes.
