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Nepali Farmer Bites to Death Cobra That Bit Him
By wchung | 16 Jul, 2025
A Nepali farmer who was bitten by a cobra in his rice paddy Tuesday survived the encounter with no apparent ill effect after following a tip he had once heard from a snake charmer.
“A snake charmer told me that if a snake bites you, bite it until it is dead and nothing will happen to you,” Mohammed Salmodin told the BBC.
“When I realised that a snake had bit me, I went home to get a torch and saw that it was a cobra,” Salmodin said. “So I bit it to death.”
There was no explanation how he managed to catch the cobra after returning from his home. After biting the snake to death Salmodin went about his daily work. He finally went to a hospital due to pressure from family, neighbors and police. He has discharged from the hospital after receiving treatment for the snake bite.
Fortunately the snake Salmodin killed is a common cobra. Had it been one of the endangered varieties, he might have faced a fine or worse, according to local police.
Salmodin’s village is located about 200 km (125 miles) southeast of Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital.
Cobras are one of many varieties of poisonous snakes in Nepal. Each year about 20,000 cases of snake bites occur, mostly in the Terai southern plains. They lead to about 1,000 deaths, according to AFP.
While advice for snake bites vary depending on the exact type of snake, they generally call for the victim to remain calm, try to remember the snake’s color, shape and size, and seek immediate medical attention. Applying a tourniquet or trying to suck out the venom is generally not recommended.
None of the widely published guidelines recommend biting the snake to death as a remedy for poisoning.
Nepali villager Mohammed Salmodin is shown with a cobra he bit to death on Tuesday, August 21, 2012 after he was bitten by the cobra.
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