Cobra Stunt Gone Wrong: Man Gets Bitten By Deadly Snake, Hospitalized

A man in India was bitten by a deadly snake, while he was handling three reptiles to record a stunt.

The incident took place in the southern state of Karnataka. In the video, the stuntman – identified as Maaz Sayyad – was seen swaying his hands in front of the three cobras on March 13. The video was uploaded by an Indian Forest Services officer, Susanta Nanda.

"This is just horrific way of handling cobras...The snake considers the movements as threats and follow the movement. At times, the response can be fatal," Nanda wrote.

The stuntman said he had caught the reptiles separately, and intended to release them into the forest Monday after recording the video.

Sayyad wanted to record the stunt and post it on his YouTube channel.

In the video, one of the cobras jumped and bit Sayyad in the knee, while he was focusing on another snake, News 18.

Sayyad was rushed to the hospital where he received treatment, Priyanka Kadam, President and Founder of Snakebite Healing and Education Society, Times Now reported.

"He is recuperating in a private hospital in Sirsi, Karnataka," she said.

Kadam earlier said Sayed should be booked for "putting up content which is clearly an abuse of wildlife." However, she later suggested, "An expert can perhaps try guiding him. He wasn't arrogant. Spoke respectfully. He is still unwell. Will connect with him once he fully recovers."

"This is a very popular stunt that many people follow and they don't understand the seriousness of this! Unnecessary handling and playing around can lead to serious repercussions," Atul Pai, a snake and an animal rescuer from Mangalore, said.

According to Britannica, cobras are highly venomous, and most of them expand the neck ribs to form a hood. While the hood is characteristic of cobras, not all of them are closely related.

Last month, a popular Indian snake catcher was hospitalized in a critical condition after being bitten by a cobra. Vava Suresh was trying to save the reptile from a house in the town of Kottayam in Kerala when the incident took place.