Media reports say that the man cut off the snake's head himself before being bitten by it

Aug 25, 2014 12:17 GMT  ·  By

News from China says that, just a few days ago, a chef working in a local restaurant in the city of Foshan in the country's Guangdong province died after being bitten by a severed cobra head.

As if reading about a cobra head wriggling around and attacking people were not enough to really freak people out, word has it that the reptile parted with this body part about 20 minutes before the man was bitten.

What's more, it appears that it was the chef himself who decapitated the snake while attempting to prepare a dish that had king cobra meat as one of its ingredients, the Daily Record informs.

Otherwise put, here is what this piece of news boils down to: a chef tried to cook a cobra and started by chopping off its head. 20 minutes after being decapitated, the reptile turned against its executioner, and killed him.

By the looks of it, the dish that the chef was trying to make and that ultimately cost him his life was snake soup. The severed cobra head is said to have bitten the man just as he was trying to throw it in the trash.

Talking to the press, police officers explained that the man's death was no more and no less than an unfortunate accident. They added that, had the chef been given anti-venom in time, he might have survived the experience.

“It is a highly unusual case but it appears to be just an accident. There was nothing that could be done to save the man,” a spokesperson for the local police in the city of Foshan explained.

“Only the anti-venom could have helped but this was not given in time. He prepared the snake himself and was just unlucky. It was a tragic accident,” the spokesperson further detailed in an interview concerning this incident.

Interestingly enough, wildlife experts were not quick to dismiss this piece of news as pure fabrication. On the contrary, several specialists have until now stepped forward to explain that king cobras can still move their heads for several minutes after being decapitated.

“It is perfectly possible that the head remained alive. By the time a snake has lost its head, it’s effectively dead as basic body functions have ceased, but there is still some reflexive action,” one specialist by the name Yang Hong-chang said in a statement.

If you have trouble taking Yang Hong-chang's words for granted, just check out the video below. The footage, which made it online quite a while ago, shows a decapitated cobra moving around on the ground, and proves that these snakes don't just die in an instant.

Fair warning though: the video contains graphic images that some might find terribly disturbing. Hence, viewer discretion is recommended.