KUALA NERANG: A three metre-long king cobra was discovered near a school hostel in Padang Terap, near here today.
The 12kg reptile was first noticed on the grounds of SMK Naka’s hostel by the school gardener, after he saw it chasing after a monitor lizard near a dumpsite.
Fearing the snake would slither into the hostel, the gardener decided to set fire to a pile of garbage under which the snake had slinked.
“After the fire died out, the gardener saw that the snake was still alive and had coiled itself underneath the garbage. He then called us for assistance,” said Padang Terap Civil Defence Force chief Abdul Satar Abdullah.
Satar said the team went to the school at 5.15pm and took about 10 minutes to catch the snake.
He said the reptile will be handed to the Wildlife and National Parks Department for further action.
“The snake was the biggest that we caught this year. We believe that it came from a rubber estate located next to the school to hunt for food,” Abdul Satar added.