ALOR SETAR : A man was shocked when he stumbled upon not one but three monocled cobras in his furniture shop at Kampung Haji Abbas in Baling.

       Baling Civil Defence Force district officer Leftenan (PA) Mohd Faizol Aziz said the man, in his 30s, only realised the presence of the reptiles at his shop at about 4.20pm on Thursday (Feb 1).

       "Two personnel from the district defence force were sent to the shop at about 4.40pm to catch the snakes," he said (when contacted).

       Mohd Faizol said his men took about 20 minutes to catch the dangerous reptiles, which were about 1.5m long each.

       He said the snakes were brought to the defence force district office before they were handed over to the Wildlife and National Parks Department.

       Mohd Faizol advised the public to keep a close watch on the surrounding areas of their homes, especially bushes, for the presence of snakes and other dangerous animals.

       He said the presence of the snakes might be due to the hot weather in Kedah, and the reptilians might try to find cooler places and seek shelter from the heat.

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       The monocled cobra, also called the monocellate cobra or Indian spitting cobra, is a widespread cobra species across South and Southeast Asia. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists it as Least Concern.

       The species can be found from India in the west through China, Vietnam and Cambodia.

       They are also found on the Malay Peninsula and are native to Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Laos, Nepal, and Thailand.