A toddler has stunned his family after killing a venomous cobra – by biting its head.
Two-year-old Govinda Kumar fought back after the cobra coiled itself around his arm while he played outside his home in Bankatwa village in India on Friday.
Relatives said the boy saw the snake and threw a piece of brick at it, causing the snake to react and lunge at him.
But the boy quickly reacted, biting the snake’s head and killing it almost instantly.
Govinda’s grandmother, Mateshwari Devi, said: ‘I was moving firewood near the house and the cobra came out. The child perhaps saw the snake moving and caught hold of it.
‘When we saw the snake in the child’s hand, everyone rushed towards him, but in the meantime, he already bit the snake, killing it on the spot.’
Despite killing the snake Govinda was not unharmed – he lost consciousness not long after, due to swallowing some of the cobra.
He was rushed to a local health centre before being moved to the Government Medical College Hospital (GMCH) in Bettiah for specialist care.
Dr Surab Kumar, the medic in charge of treating the toddler, told The Telegraph: ‘Timely treatment saved Govinda’s life. The venom did affect Govinda, but not fatally.
‘The child had eaten a part of the cobra and the venom had gone into his digestive tract, unlike in the cases where the cobra bites the person and venom goes into blood and triggers neurotoxicity.
‘The child’s condition is currently stable, and treatment is being administered under the supervision of doctors.
‘The medical team is treating the child, providing continuous medication, and he is under observation.
‘We were surprised and cross-checked with his parents multiple times to ensure the child was not bitten by the cobra to rule out that venom had not gone into his bloodstream.’
While in hospital Govinda was given anti-allergy medication and was placed under doctors’ observation until his discharge on Saturday.
Cobras are highly venomous, their venom able to kill a human within hours by paralysing the respiratory system we use to breathe.
They are one of the four most venomous snakes in India, alongside the common krait, Russel’s viper, and saw-scaled viper.
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