Agra, Aug 6 (IANS): A slithering serpent triggered a state of panic amongst members of a family as soon as they spotted the uninvited guest comfortably perched in a drawer of the almirah in their bedroom, perhaps waiting for dinner time to move out.

The local police man contacted the NGO Wildlife SOS which sent its team to nab the reptile. A two-member team from the NGO geared up with necessary rescue equipment and rushed to the location. After ensuring that the occupants were at a safe distance, the team carefully extricated the distressed cobra from the almirah and transferred it in a safe transport carrier. It took 30 minutes minutes for the rescue operation. The reptile was safely rescued by the team and was later released back in its natural habitat.

Baijuraj M.V, Director Conservation Projects for Wildlife SOS, said, "We are glad that more and more people are reaching out to us for help, rather than taking matters in their own hands. Snake sightings increase in the monsoons and our teams work round the clock to ensure no call for aid goes unanswered."

Kartick Satyanarayan, CEO and Co-founder of Wildlife SOS, said "Being one of the four most venomous snake species to be found in India, our team had to exercise a lot of caution while conducting the rescue in order to avoid any unnecessary casualties. Sometimes these rescues can be dangerous and risky, but our team is trained to handle and carry out such sensitive operations, in the interest of public safety and protection of urban wildlife."

The cobra was kept under observation for a few hours and later released back in the wild.

India is home to a variety of snake species ranging from extremely venomous snakes like the Cobra and Common krait to relatively harmless and non-venomous ones like the Common sand boa, Red sand boa, Wolf snake & Rat snake. Largely misrepresented and often perceived as dangerous, reptiles are met with fear and hostility, leading to incidents of human conflict with this species.