The 7th hole at the SEPTDA golf club, Chandimandir, is eye-catching. But a jarring note was struck in the scenic lushness by a golfer’s eyeballing video gone viral. The golfer was seen exhibiting his “commando skills” with a fleeing Indian cobra. Filmed on a cellphone by the golfer’s playing companion (heard in the video warning the golfer) in a reel lasting 1 minute and 57 seconds, the wilful manhandling and kissing of the cobra invited censure from the Haryana forest department and wildlife experts.
Cobras are listed under Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 (amended in 2022). Section 2(16) prohibits “capturing, coursing, snaring, trapping, driving or baiting any wild or captive animal and every attempt to do so; injuring or destroying or taking any part of the body of any such animal”.
In the video, Lt Col Paramjit Singh (retd) is seen blocking the cobra from its route towards the dense vegetation by flinging it in the opposite direction with his 5-iron and onto the open area of closely-mown fairway. He then blocked the cobra, whose hood had flared up, with his golf shoes before pinning it down hard with his iron and catching it from the head. He kissed the cobra before releasing it next to vegetation to the right of the tee box at the par 3, 7th hole.
The video shows the cobra in a stressed, painful and highly agitated state whiplashing its tail in acute trauma when its spine was pressed down hard with the iron. It subsequently went limp due to reverse blood flow when strung from the head by a tourniquet-like clasp of Singh’s fingers.
{{/usCountry}}The video shows the cobra in a stressed, painful and highly agitated state whiplashing its tail in acute trauma when its spine was pressed down hard with the iron. It subsequently went limp due to reverse blood flow when strung from the head by a tourniquet-like clasp of Singh’s fingers.
{{/usCountry}}Haryana PCCF (Wildlife) Dr Navdeep Singh told this writer: “The department will initiate action against the person in the video under the Wildlife (Protection) Act.” Wildlife Inspector Ramkesh, who has been delegated with the inquiry, said: “It appears to be a case of harassment of a wild species.”
“Western Command HQs has issued an advisory to golfers to refrain from handling snakes. This manner of handling the snake should not have been done as it can be violative of the Wildlife (Protection) Act. We will be posting the advisory on the WhatsApp group of our members,” Col TYS Bedi (retd.), SEPTDA Course Manager, told this writer.
When contacted by this writer, Lt Col Paramjit Singh (retd) said, “The video is from the 7th hole of SEPTDA of Sunday last. Like every infantry officer, I underwent the course from the Commando School, Belgaum, 40 years ago. I was chasing the cobra away from the tee-off area so that other golfers were safe and caddies did not kill it.”
However, Singh’s claim is not borne out by the video as he was seen dragging the cobra back from the fringes of the vegetation. After having his fill of “fearlessness”, Singh freed the cobra at the point and in the very direction where he had initially blocked its escape.
Further, when asked why he trapped and kissed the cobra if safety was his concern and, secondly, the cobra was anyway trying to escape, Singh cryptically replied, “I regret that action.”
After examining the reel, legendary herpetologist Rom Whitaker told this writer: “Why unnecessarily harass a snake that just wanted to get away? To look like a hero maybe? One slip and it could have proven fatal. This kind of behaviour is stressful for the snake, and illegal.”
Kedar Bhide, an expert in snake-bite mitigation, pointed to such incidents putting lives at risk as social media is rife with violations of wildlife laws. Such viral reels can serve as a role model for illegal exhibitionism and wildlife tortures. “If the cobra was intentionally captured, restrained, and handled without authorisation, the incident may attract Sections 2(16), 9 and 51 of the Act. The forest department is the authority to examine the facts,” Bhide told this writer.
vjswild2@gmail.com