A man has been killed in a King Cobra attack. Adelaide Now reports Rajkishore Pani, 62, who earned the moniker “Kendrapada’s snake man” for his work with reptiles, was attacked when he went to rescue a King Cobra at a location in Garadapur village, on India’s east coast.
A wiki entry reveals the “King Cobra is fierce, agile, and can deliver a large quantity of highly potent venom in a single bite.”
It is one of the most dangerous and feared Asiatic snakes and can grow to over eighteen feet long and is the world’s longest venomous snake.
One official compared the death to that of the Crocodile Hunter. “The incident is akin to the death of famous Australian conservationist Steve Irwin in September 2006. Irwin was killed after he was attacked by a stingray while shooting for a TV program undersea,” said Sudhanshu Parida, secretary of the district unit of People for Animals, reports the Times of India.
The secretary added: “He had rescued a king cobra from a neighbour’s brick kiln even as his son’s marriage ceremony was going on. But the snake suddenly attacked him.”