Guindy Forest Officials Rescue 19 Cobra Hatchlings from Egmore House

Nineteen cobra hatchlings were rescued from beneath the concrete flooring of a residential property in Egmore on Sunday by forest department personnel. Anti-poaching guards attached to the Guindy forest range carried out the operation after being alerted by a local resident.

The incident came to light when the resident noticed eggs in the backyard of the house and immediately notified the forest department. Upon reaching the location, officials identified the clutches as cobra eggs and conducted an inspection beneath the ground, where they discovered a total of 39 hatched eggs.

Forest department officials determined that the eggs had hatched a day or two prior to the discovery, raising concerns that the young snakes were still dispersed across the immediate vicinity. A team subsequently initiated a detailed four-hour search operation, carefully excavating gaps located beneath the concrete flooring to reach the reptiles.

During the excavation, personnel recovered 19 hatchlings one by one from the underlying spaces. The search had to be halted following nightfall, which left the effort to locate the remaining hatchlings temporarily incomplete.

The 19 rescued snakes were secured, transported away from the residential neighbourhood, and released safely into the Chengalpet forest area.

With 39 eggs confirmed to have hatched and only 19 hatchlings recovered so far, forest officials suspect that the remaining 20 hatchlings may have moved deeper into gaps beneath the concrete flooring or retreated into other unused sections of the property.

Department personnel had previously rescued an adult female cobra from the exact same house roughly 10 days earlier. Officials believe the newly hatched cobras are the offspring of that previously captured snake. Another search operation was scheduled to locate and rescue the remaining 20 hatchlings from the Egmore residence.