Fact Check

Baby Plays with Cobra

Video clip shows a toddler playing with a cobra.

Published Feb. 7, 2007

Claim:

Claim:   Video clip shows a toddler playing with a cobra.


Status:   Undetermined.

Example:   [Collected via e-mail, May 2007]




This is video of an Indian child grabbing onto the tail of a live cobra.

Speculation is that the snake has had its teeth removed, but it is strange parental behaviour all the same!




Origins:   We don't know the origins of this video clip, although a reader wrote to tell us:



My tv watching finally paid off b/c I had seen this story on Inside Edition or Access Hollywood (I can't remember which one but it was on the major networks at 6:30pm CST). They explained that the video was right but what you couldn't tell was that the Cobra's mouth had been secured shut. It was just a ritual they do in India for babies. They really didn't have much info on it but at least they explained that the baby wasn't actually getting bitten — just hit in the head.

Last updated:   27 June 2007


David Mikkelson founded the site now known as snopes.com back in 1994.

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