Kuala Berang: An elderly man was startled to discover a venomous king cobra lurking inside a room in his home, initially mistaking it for a mere shadow or a toy.
Abdul Halim Muda, 67, from Kampung Sungai Ular, near here, expressed disbelief when he first spotted what appeared to be the head of a king cobra, assuming it was an illusion.
Feeling uneasy, he asked one of his children to check one of the bedrooms, but found no trace of the snake. However, upon inspecting another bedroom, they discovered the venomous reptile hiding inside the room at around 6:50 pm.
Concerned for the safety of his eight family members, Abdul Halim immediately contacted the rescue team for help.
Emergency responders from the Malaysian Civil Defence Force (APM) arrived and took several minutes to capture the snake.
Abdul Halim said that this incident marked the fourth time a snake had entered his home, but the previous occurrences involved different species, not the king cobra.
"Thankfully, I urged my child to check the bedrooms, thinking it was just a shadow at first, but it turned out to be something entirely unexpected," he said.
Meanwhile, Captain (PA) Mohd Zabri Abd Razak, the District Civil Defence Officer for Hulu Terengganu, stated that they received the call at around 7:10 pm.
Five team members swiftly responded and took about 10 minutes to capture the four-metre-long, 20-kilogramme snake from one of the bedrooms.
"For now, the snake is being temporarily held at the Hulu Terengganu APM office and will be released back into its natural habitat in a distant forest away from residential areas," he said.