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October 12, 2016

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Hunt for deadly cobras after escape from farm in Nanjing

FIFTY baby snakes are on the loose in Nanjing, capital of east China’s Jiangsu Province.

More than 200 monocled cobra, a highly venomous variety, escaped from a farm in August but local authorities weren’t aware of the problem until Monday when a villager from Liuhe district found and killed a snake in his house.

Authorities said around 150 of the snakes had been caught or killed shortly after their escape from the Chunyi livestock farm.

A search has been launched for those still unaccounted for but officials reassured the public that their venom was less toxic than mature snakes because of their age.

They also said the species, native to the tropics, wouldn’t survive the onset of winter.

The district government said it had brought in snake-venom serum from Shanghai and put medical personnel and ambulances on standby in case anyone was bitten.

The search is being carried out in a 5-kilometer radius of the farm and government staff are disseminating information to residents in the area.

The farm’s owner, Qin Guorong, 52, said that he had bought snake eggs from Guangdong Province on August 6.

Of 1,820 which had hatched, 1,500 had survived.

Qin said he had started breeding snakes in 2015, hoping to sell to restaurants in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangdong. His first year had been a failure, however, and now his second attempt had ended in disaster.

He said continuous rain had caused foundations at the farm to subside and cement floors to crack. It was through these cracks that the baby snakes, around 20 centimeters long, had escaped.

Qin said the snakes still at his farm had been put into hibernation. “They are still alive. But they can’t wriggle or eat,” he said.

Officials said the farm had been closed and its owner put under investigation.




 

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