A COBRA that bit a veterinary student in Brazil, putting him in a coma, has turned into a celebrity by sparking investigations into an alleged exotic animal trafficking ring.

The monocled cobra, which is native to Asia, bit 22-year-old Pedro Krambeck Lehmkuhl on July 7 in Brasilia, sending doctors on a frantic search for the right antivenom – so rare in Brazil that the lone doses had to be rushed from Sao Paulo.

Questions about how the reptile ended up in the student’s apartment soon turned into a police probe that found 16 other snakes on a property belonging to Lehmkuhl’s friend, as well as three sharks, seven more snakes, a Moray eel and a Tupinambis lizard on another property.

So far, the probe has led to the firing of two officials at the Brazilian environmental regulator over suspicions that they facilitated fraudulent import permits for a wildlife trafficking ring.

The student’s mother and stepfather, a police colonel, were also questioned and fined 8,500 reals (RM6,820) each on a charge of obstructing justice.

Lehmkuhl, who spent six days in hospital, was released and fined 61,000 reals. He is still under investigation.

Meanwhile, the cobra – naja in Portuguese – has become an internet sensation after being found near a shopping centre, where it was allegedly abandoned by a friend of Lehmkuhl’s trying to get rid of evidence.

A Twitter account opened in the snake’s name, @najaoriginal, has nearly 50,000 followers.

“In less than a week, I have taken revenge on my oppressor, dismantled an animal trafficking ring, freed more than 16 friends, helped a shark and struck fear in the traffickers’ hearts,” the account posted on July 11 – one of several tweets that have gone viral, mixing references to Brazilian pop music and telenovelas with humorous jabs at animal trafficking.

The snake is now living at Brasilia Zoo, which showed off “Brazil’s most famous cobra” in an Instagram Live video yesterday.

The zoo’s reptiles director, Carlos Nobrega, explained the 1.5m-long creature’s care and diet to rapt fans as it slithered about its enclosure.

Despite its ordeal, “everything seems to be OK” with the cobra, he said. – AFP, July 25, 2020.