MP Explores Introducing King Cobra for Ecological Balance; Experts Advise Caution

Bhopal: After cheetah, Madhya Pradesh is now exploring ‘introduction’ of king cobra in the state forests to maintain ecological balance.

The state forest department has initiated measures to study the feasibility of introducing the world’s largest venomous snake species following chief minister Mohan Yadav’s call for bringing king cobra to the forests of Madhya Pradesh.

“We have approached Wildlife Institute of India (WII) to explore the possibility of introducing king cobra in its suitable habitats in Madhya Pradesh forests”, a senior forest officer told this newspaper here on Thursday, requesting not to be quoted.

The chief minister has said that being the top predator, the snake species can help maintain ecological balance by regulating the population of other snake species, its prey base.

He said that the snake bite cases in the state can be curbed drastically if the king cobra is introduced in the state.

According to a report published in the August six, 2024 publication of the ‘The Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene’, more than 5,000 people died of snake bite in Madhya Pradesh in two years between 2020-2022 and a compensation Rs 231 crore was given by the government during the period.

A compensation of Rs four lakh each is released in snake bite death cases.

King cobra is usually found in cold areas such as Himalayan states of Uttarakhand, Nepal and Terai areas.

The species is also found in eastern and western ghats of India.

It is found in eastern ghat states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, southern part of West Bengal and in some parts of Bihar.

It is also found in western ghat states of Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Gujarat.

Chhattisgarh’s Korba region is home to king cobra.

“Madhya Pradesh with its present political and administrative boundary has no history of being home to king cobras. A new species should be introduced in an ecology after doing an extensive study on it. Otherwise, the introduction of the new species may disturb the ecological balance”, scientist in the Kolkata-based Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) Dr Pratyush Mahapatra told this newspaper.

Sangeeta Saxena of world-wide fund (WWF) for nature also suggested exercising caution while introducing king cobra in Madhya Pradesh forests.

A study on the impact of the introduction of new species on ecology should be made before initiating the move, she said.

In Madhya Pradesh, 44 kinds of snake species are found, most of which are not venomous.

Cheetah which had gone extinct in India in 1952 has been introduced in Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh in 2022.