A lost king cobra in Marsiling was rescued by a local animal group yesterday.
Twitter user @Anymalien shared that she had spotted the nearly two-meter long animal slithering away while she was on her way to the NTUC Fairprice supermarket. She then contacted the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society, or ACRES, who successfully captured it near the MRT station.
“I was strolling to NTUC to get groceries when this big girl came out of nowhere. Nature is healing we are the virus,” her tweet wrote. It included a video where she and another woman could be heard in the background discussing whether they should contact someone about the animal.
ACRES deputy chief executive Kalai Balakrishnan confirmed with Coconuts Singapore today that the rescue took place at 5pm at the said location, and the man caught in the video capturing the snake was him. The snake has since been released to its habitat.
“As fascinating as it may seem that a King Cobra ended up at this location, it [is] actually not too surprising,” he said. “The canal that runs below the MRT station could likely be linked to nearby green areas like Marsiling park and waterways like Sungei Cina. It can also be linked to the Central Catchment Reserve, south of the MRT station.”
King cobras are rare in Singapore and prefer forested areas. It was also likely that the snake had “wandered off and gotten lost in a residential area,” he added.
“The king cobra had tried to go into a hole in the soil but luckily, we managed to get a hold of it before it went into the gap. The snake was rescued by ACRES successfully and has since been relocated to a suitable habitat,” he said.
I was strolling to NTUC to get groceries when this big girl came out of nowhere. Nature is healing we are the virus.
Ya lah I called NParks Animal Management already advised by the police but they are damn slow to respond. pic.twitter.com/JxEzi5KLva
— goyeng pichang (@anymalien) May 3, 2020
According to @Anymalien’s tweets, a section near the station was also cordoned off and a number of onlookers were in the area when the rescue took place.
“Ms Snake was amazing and strong. This big ACRES guy tried to pull her out of the hole she started to dig & it took him a while. Here’s Marsiling MRT’s famous snake caught.”
Ms Snake was amazing and strong. This big ACRES guy tried to pull her out of the hole she started to dig & it took him a while.
Here’s Marsiling MRT’s famous snake caught. We spoke to ACRES afterwards and they said they’ll send it to the zoo for a check up before releasing it. pic.twitter.com/eSw4AXPIcF
— goyeng pichang (@anymalien) May 3, 2020
According to the NParks website, the animal is native to Singapore.
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