Baby cobras escape in southwest China, 23 still at large

A total of 180 baby cobras escaped from a breeding farm in southwest China's Sichuan Province, with 23 still at large as of Friday, local authorities said.

People in Luomu township, Emeishan city, reported seeing the snakes at about 10 p.m. Saturday, according to Zhou Minghua, a spokesman with the city forestry bureau.

The snakes were from Jiulong breeding farm.

Local government distributed alcohol and realgar to locals so they could repel the snakes. Antitoxic serum was also prepared in case of injuries caused by the cobras.

By Friday morning, 120 of the snakes were caught, 30 killed and seven found dead. Search for the final 23 are still under way.

The baby cobras were 16 to 27 centimeters long and not highly toxic, Zhou said. He told the public not to panic and to contact local forestry rangers and firefighters when encounter the snakes.

Zhou said it was not easy for farm-bred cobras to survive in the wild.

Zhou said that other snakes in the farm had been sent to a safer place, facilities had been made secure, and the farm's surrounding area had been disinfected. Endi