Peter Schulze Niehoff
Snakecharmer
Number of posts: 170
Age: 40
Location: near Münster, NRW, Germany
Points: 1656
Registration date: 2008-06-30
 | | Subject: Cobras escaped again Tue 12 Oct - 15:40 | |
| And we thought to have had a serious problem in Germany with just one of that critters ... Cobra egg plan leads to bedlam
Tom Lasseter - September 25, 2010
XIANLING VILLAGE, China: Cai Yong thought it would be a good idea to buy 3000 cobra eggs and then hatch the snakes at an abandoned school building in homemade cages of plywood, brick and netting.
The local businessman's plan to make money by selling cobra venom for traditional medicine fell apart when more than 160 of the serpents slithered through a hole in the wall and created bedlam in remote Xianling.
Starting at the beginning of this month, cobras were spotted in outhouse toilets, kitchens, front yards and the mah-jong parlour in the tiny farming village in Qijiang county in Chongqing municipality, south-western China.
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''I saw one in the bathroom,'' said Zhang Suli, 47, the wife of a corn and rice farmer. ''I was scared, and I started screaming.''
The Mid-Autumn Festival holiday this week, when Chinese celebrate the season's harvest moon, has not been an auspicious one for the people of Xianling.
First, there was the cobras-gone-wild story, which veered between slapstick and terror. Then an apparent government clampdown followed, in which officials declared that most of the snakes had been captured and all was well, assertions that many locals did not believe.
Guan Xinyu said local officials were more interested in damping down any sign of trouble than in rounding up the snakes. Like several others interviewed in the area, Mr Guan said that while the 1500-plus cobras that did not escape had been taken away, he had not seen anyone trying to catch the ones that got away.
''The government is scared of people panicking because these snakes are dangerous,'' he said.
''I know they didn't catch all the snakes.''
Officials recently delivered snakebite serum to the village - though only the breeder has been hurt so far - and have given lectures about cobras.
The government of the nearest town, Shijiao, issued a notice last week detailing how the snakes got loose and declaring almost all of them had been caught.
Which left Wei Yuanxiang, 56, with one pressing question: ''The government says there aren't any cobras left, so why are people still seeing them?
''The government just wants to get this matter finished,'' he said.
Mr Wei's neighbour, Luo Lizhong, said he saw a cobra last Saturday, several days after the village was given the all-clear. Pointing at a spade leaning against the wall - everyone in the area seems to have one at the ready these days - Mr Luo said he slapped it on the ground when he spotted the snake darting across his tool shed.
The episode is a reminder that no problem or locale is too remote for the Communist Party's efforts to enforce its notion of a ''harmonious society'' in which there is no social upset. Even when it comes to cobras in the bathroom.Well done  Peter |
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Guenter Leitenbauer
Lord of the Serpents
Number of posts: 1370
Age: 46
Location: Gunskirchen / Austria
Points: 2685
Registration date: 2008-05-17
| | Subject: Re: Cobras escaped again Tue 12 Oct - 21:05 | |
| I guess those Najas are one of the least severe problems in China  |
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Ralph Tümmers
Snakecharmer
Number of posts: 199
Age: 32
Location: Germany
Points: 1761
Registration date: 2008-04-26
| | Subject: Re: Cobras escaped again Tue 12 Oct - 21:23 | |
| Yes , that i can agree But anyway...that was not really clever ...  Greets Ralph |
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Guest
Guest
| | Subject: Re: Cobras escaped again Tue 12 Oct - 21:52 | |
| Cai Yong thought it would be a good idea to buy 3000 cobra eggs and then hatch the snakes at an abandoned school building in homemade cages of plywood, brick and netting.
This made me laugh. Started it off like a childrens bedtime story!
I also like the closing statement. Thanks for sharing. |
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TJ Giles
Snakekeeper
Number of posts: 62
Age: 24
Location: us
Points: 684
Registration date: 2010-09-25
| | Subject: Re: Cobras escaped again Wed 13 Oct - 1:35 | |
| Free cobras for everyone...haha
I don't think that you could be any more irresponsable. |
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