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See a giant bag of snakes get released into the wild

Almost 350 snakes are released in just one day. Add this to your list of reasons to never, ever go outside again.

Gael Cooper
CNET editor Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, a journalist and pop-culture junkie, is co-author of "Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? The Lost Toys, Tastes and Trends of the '70s and '80s," as well as "The Totally Sweet '90s." She's been a journalist since 1989, working at Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, Twin Cities Sidewalk, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and NBC News Digital. She's Gen X in birthdate, word and deed. If Marathon candy bars ever come back, she'll be first in line.
Expertise Breaking news, entertainment, lifestyle, travel, food, shopping and deals, product reviews, money and finance, video games, pets, history, books, technology history, generational studies. Credentials
  • Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won "Headline Writer of the Year"​ award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.
Gael Cooper
2 min read

There are some jobs that fall into the category of "someone's gotta do it," like mopping a fast-food joint's bathroom after closing time, wiping down the ball pit at an arcade and releasing an enormous bag of snakes back into the wild.

The latter was done last month by snake catcher Saleem Khan, who released 345 snakes, all on one day, near Bhopal, India.

The video above, taken on September 23, doesn't show all 345, but it does show one massive, wiggling bag of snakes getting dumped out. And to help them squirm out into the wild, Khan (or one of his aides, it's unclear if he himself is in this video) pats the writhing mass and helps push them off into the grass.

This seems like a good reason to never, ever go outside again, but according to Newslions Media, Khan first ensured that there were no human habitats near where he set the snakes free in the Pachmarhi forest.

"We chose to release them during the evening time as the earth is cooler during that time," Khan told Newslions. "If the earth is hot, it might cause problem to the snakes who always prefer to stay in cooler places."

A 2013 article on Khan in India's Daily Pioneer reveals that he was a tailor before slithering into his current profession. And it's put a bit of a damper on his romantic life.

"I live a risky life," Khan told the Daily Pioneer back then. "I do not have prior knowledge about snakes which I catch, hence it may be fatal someday, hence I decided not to get married."