This was the moment veteran snake rescuer, Nabaghana Swain, could never have even imagined.

A venomous cobra he rescued on May 5 regurgitated a meal it had just consumed, like all stressed snakes do. But instead of a dead prey coming out, a live common toad came out of the stomach of the deadly snake and hopped away.

Mahendra Patro, a resident of Kodala near Ganjam, eastern India, saw a snake swallowing a toad in his backyard, and called Snake Helpline to remove the snake. A volunteer, Nabaghana Swain, went to his house and rescued the snake.

Swain said: “I rescued the snake about 15 minutes after it was spotted swallowing the toad. After the toad came out I waited for another 15 minutes to see if it would survive. It appeared to be in good shape as the cobra had swallowed it without biting. It had spent about 15 minutes inside the stomach of a deadly predator and came out unscathed. That’s a record.”

Subhendu Mallik, General Secretary of Snake Helpline said: “The neurotoxic venom of a cobra can kill a toad in a few minutes. But as this prey was small and docile the snake had opted to swallow it without injecting any venom.”

“Snakes use their venom judiciously and inject it only when required and in proportion to the prey’s size. This is a classic case of venom metering,” he added.

This was the moment veteran snake rescuer, Nabaghana Swain, could never have even imagined.

A venomous cobra he rescued on May 5 regurgitated a meal it had just consumed, like all stressed snakes do. But instead of a dead prey coming out, a LIVE common toad came out of the stomach of the deadly snake and hopped away.

Mahendra Patro, a resident of Kodala near Ganjam in eastern India saw a snake swallowing a toad in his backyard, and called Snake Helpline to remove the snake. A volunteer, Nabaghana Swain, went to his house and rescued the snake. It was when a live toad dramatically emerged from the stomach of the predator.

Nabaghan said: “I rescued the snake about 15 minutes after it was spotted swallowing the toad. After the toad came out I waited for another 15 minutes to see if it would survive. It appeared to be in good shape as the cobra had swallowed it without biting. It had spent about 15 minutes inside the stomach of a deadly predator and came out unscathed. That’s a record.”

Subhendu Mallik, General Secretary of Snake Helpline said “The neurotoxic venom of a cobra can kill a toad in a few minutes. But as this prey was small and docile the snake had opted to swallow it without injecting any venom.”

“Snakes use their venom judiciously and inject it only when required and in proportion to the prey’s size. This is a classic case of venom metering,” he added.