We’ve heard stories about a man marrying an anime character and a woman marrying herself, but a man who married a cobra?
Earlier this month, UK tabloids reported that a Thai man had married his pet snake as he believed it was his dead girlfriend due to its “striking resemblance” to her.
According to a report by UK’s Daily Mail, the man reportedly spotted the 10-foot cobra somewhere in South East Asia, and he instantly ‘fell in love’ with it as the reptile looked exactly like an ex-girlfriend who reportedly passed away five years ago.
Since then, the daily reported, the man and the snake spent every day together like a married couple, doing married couple things such as watching TV, going to the park and working out together.
The report also stated that the man had decided to marry the snake as he had “taken the Buddhist theory that people are reincarnated as animals”.
The story reportedly blew up on cyberspace, and it was picked up by another popular UK tabloid.
After the story went viral online, Netizens were trying very hard to find out the identity of this Thai man.
As it turns out, the ‘Thai man’ is actually a 31-year-old Malaysian fireman named Abu Zarin Hussin, who is attached to the Temerloh fire station.
Unfortunately for him, the images used were actually of Abu Zarin and his pet snake, but things are not what it seems.
That’s because the reports are absolutely false: he did not marry his pet cobra.
Abu Zarin told The Star Online in a recent interview that dealing with snakes is a part of his role with the Malaysian Fire and Rescue Department.
He told the news portal that his job is to conduct snake-catching and training classes for firemen.
According to Abu Zarin, he kept the snakes so that he could better understand their temperament and their nature.
“The snakes are with me so that I can observe their behaviour. Catching snakes are part of a fireman’s duty. I am training other firemen how to handle and manage snakes.
“So that after they are caught, we can release them back into their natural habitat,” he was quoted by the news portal as saying.
Abu Zarin, who is married (to a real girl, in case you were wondering), told the news portal that he did not keep the same snake all the time.
He said that when a new snake arrives, he would release the previous one back into the wild.
The fireman, who currently has four snakes under his care, also told The Star Online that he never keeps a snake for more than a year.
So, what does he have to say about those false reports?
Abu Zarin told The Star Online that he was extremely disappointed when he found out that the British tabloids “used my photos and started making up stories”.
“I just want to express my disappointment over the attitude of a handful of foreign journalists who acted in clear violation of journalistic ethics in publishing the news, especially since the pictures were clearly taken from my Facebook account,” he was further quoted as saying.
