A photo featuring what appears to be a king cobra at a multi-storey carpark in Ang Mo Kio has been circulating on Facebook and Whatsapp, causing concern among netizens.
The photo was posted to Facebook by a netizen who claimed that the “rare” sight was captured yesterday afternoon by a carpark cleaner. However, the netizen could not attest to the veracity of the photo since someone else had forwarded it to him and he wasn’t the one to capture the cobra on camera.
Additionally, neither Ang Mo Kio Town Council nor the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (ACRES) receoved any reports of a cobra sighting at the carpark. Deputy Chief Executive of ACRES, Mr Kalai Vanan Balakrishnan commented:
“In an open area such as a carpark, snakes will try to run away, especially king cobras who are shy animals. Although reptiles are highly adaptable, it does not make sense for the king cobra to be at a multi-storey carpark. The king cobra would most likely be fixated on the photographer too, instead of it looking at a different angle, unless there was someone standing there as well.”
Upon closer inspection, it appears that the cobra has been photoshopped onto the image. Missing pixels seems to suggest that the cobra has been cropped and subsequently placed in the foreground of the carpark photo?
What do you think? Is the king cobra at Ang Mo Kio real or a product of photoshop?