Snake menace

Only a day after 27 snakes were killed in an earthen house of Rajshahi city, locals have found three more colonies in Rajshahi and Satkhira.

They beat to death all 198 snakes, believed to be cobras.

In Tanore upazila, locals found 125 baby snakes in holes on the kitchen walls of an earthen house on Thursday evening, reports our Rajshahi correspondent.

Along with neighbours, house owner Akkas Ali killed the snakes, which measured one to 1.5 feet in length.

They also destroyed over a dozen eggs, each the size of a hen's, found when they dug the holes later in the night.

Earlier, on the July 4 night, locals found 27 "cobras" holed up in the walls of an earthen house in Rajshahi city.

Akkas's wife Hasna Begum found three baby snakes around 6:00pm when she was cooking in the kitchen. The couple beat the three snakes to death.

Later they called neighbours to help them dig holes in the walls of the kitchen and kill the rest.

“I couldn't imagine so many snakes were together,” said Akkas.

He said his wife saw a grown-up snake fled.

In Satkhira, 73 "cobras" were killed after they were found holed up in the earthen floors of two houses.

In Sadar upazila, the snakes were found in the house owned by rickshaw van puller Abdus Sattar Khandar, reports our local correspondent.

“Our mother was working in the kitchen yesterday evening when she spotted a cobra on the floor,” said Sattar's brother Abdul Gaffar Khandar.

The snake was killed instantly, but another was spotted in the house around 8:30pm. A further hunt revealed that there was a hole on the bedroom floor.

A total of 54 snakes, mostly hatchlings, were hauled out of the burrow. They also found 50 eggs, which were destroyed.

Separately, 19 snakes were killed in Ashashuni upazila yesterday evening. The reptiles lived in holes on the earthen floor of a house.