Man Eats Deadly Snake To Protect Himself From Coronavirus, Arrested After Video Goes Viral

KEY POINTS

The incident took place in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu
The man was arrested Thursday and fined $96 for eating the reptile
The snake in the video was identified as a common krait

A man in India was arrested after a video of him eating a dead snake went viral on social media.

In the video, the man, identified as 50-year-old Vadivelu, was seen chewing on the dead reptile, saying he ate snakes to protect himself from the coronavirus. The incident took place in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, India Today reported.

The clip, which soon spread like wildfire on the internet, was shown to district forest officer (DFO) S Anand, who asked his team to trace the man and take him into custody, local daily The Times of India reported

Vadivelu, an agriculture worker, was subsequently arrested Thursday and fined Rs 7,000 ($96) for eating the reptile. The snake in the video was identified as a common krait, a highly venomous reptile native to the Indian subcontinent. These reptiles can grow up to 4 feet and are either jet black or bluish-black with white stripes across the body. Their venom can paralyze muscles, which can lead to respiratory and cardiac failure.

"He [Vadivelu] chewed the snake that was already dead. He was lucky that he did not bite into the venom gland of the snake which was a common krait. The common krait contains neurotoxins that can paralyze a human being," Anand said, The Times of India reported.

The officer said during interrogation, Vadivelu claimed few other men forced him to consume the reptile. He added he had caught the reptile in a field and killed it before consuming it. The accused also said he was drunk at the time of the incident.

In 2019, a man in the Indian state of Gujarat bit a snake in revenge after being bitten by the reptile, resulting in the death of the man and the snake. The 70-year-old man was working on his field when the reptile slithered out and bit him. The elderly man immediately grabbed the snake and bit it back. A person who witnessed the incident rushed the man to a nearby hospital where he died a few hours later. Meanwhile, the snake was burnt by the man’s family members.