Cobra Head Bites and Kills Chef Even After Being Decapitated

A chef died after being bitten by the decapitated head of an Indochinese Spitting Cobra. The Mail Online reports that Peng Fan was cleaning out the cooking area of his restaurant in the Guandong Province of China. The restaurant serves the cobra as a delicacy in one of their soups. Fan was in the middle of throwing out the severed head of the snake into the trash receptacle when it bit down on his hand. The snake’s head had already been severed for twenty minutes by then.

At the time, the restaurant did not carry any anti-venom for the cobra dishes they prepare. Fan died of from asphyxiation due to the neurotoxin from the bite before any medical help could arrive. While strange, it’s very much possible for a cobra to retain it’s motor functions even several moments after decapitation. It’s advised when handling dead cobras to either bury or burn the heads immediately to prevent them from biting you.

The spitting cobra was believed to provide health benefits for anyone who consumes it.

H/T Rocket News 24