LIVING WITH THE KING

Armed with skill, a team is on hand to remove India's deadliest snake from where it doesn't belong: inside people's homes

- LUCA EBERLE

IT'S A HOT NOVEMBER morning in the Western Ghats of southern India, and I'm sitting on a wooden verandah surrounded by dense forest.

Suddenly, the shrill ring of a mobile phone breaks the silence.

Ajay Giri, field director of the Agumbe Rainforest Research Station (ARRS), answers the call, concluding the conversation with a simple sari, meaning 'all right' in the Kannada language. "There's a king cobra near a school," he informs us. Joined by programme coordinator Rithan Bopanna and field assistant Abhilash Achar, we grab our gear, jump into the field vehicle and hit the dirt road.

ESTABLISHED BY RENOWNED herpetologist Romulus Whitaker, ARRS is a field station affiliated with The Madras Crocodile Bank Trust and Centre for Herpetology, near Chennai. Over the years, the station has become an authority on the Western Ghats king cobra (Ophiophagus kaalinga) - scientists here were among the first in the world to use radio telemetry to study this elusive species in the wild. In addition to research, ARRS staff routinely rescue and release king cobras that stray into settlements, contributing to both conservation and community outreach efforts.

We arrive at a small house and the owners lead us around the back. Ajay scans the underside of the roof with a torch until the wide scales of a king cobra reflect the light - it's coiled between the wooden beams. Meanwhile, Rithan and Abhilash position a capture bag against the wall as a group of curious children gathers nearby.