Shopper's Surprise: Deadly Cobra Delivered With Box Of Groceries Ordered

There are harmless jokes and there are those who literally go out of the box. Ordered packages, for example, tend to be out of shape. In some cases, there are evidences that it may have been opened or tampered without our knowledge. And by the time it reaches its destination, something has gone missing.

It's a common thing for packages to miss a thing or two inside. There's no point in arguing with that, but to find something extra inside the package -- and that to turn out to be a deadly cobra goes beyond the wildest April Fool's joke or disappearing gifts.

That is what happened to Mrityu Kumar from India's Odisha state who ordered “grocery products” from the nearby town of Vijayawada. Kumar had it delivered to him at his home in Mayurbhanj, according to a report from NDTV.

When the package was delivered, Kumar was welcomed by a five-and-half foot cobra that had snuggled in between the grocery items that he had ordered. The box, the source told the website, was sealed as is the case with such shipments, adding to the mystery and shock of the whole episode.

There was a simple explanation finally for how the cobra ended up inside the bod. A rat had entered the box to eat the grocery items when it was in the courier company's office, another source pointed out.

Looks like the snake caught a whiff of the rat's scent and tracked the rodent to the office. It is presumed the reptile might have slithered through the same hole that the rodent made.

Kumar called the forest department after he discovered the cobra inside his parcel. The reptile was rescued and later released in a nearby forest.

We cannot blame the rat nor the snake. They're animals and they were only following their instincts. Fortunately no one was hurt during the encounter, but the captured video has since gone viral. And considering it was easily possible for someone to have put their hand into the box of groceries and getting bitten by the snake inside, that probably is the biggest miracle of all this.