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A middle school student bitten by a cobra while trying to trade it illegally has been caught by police, raising concerns about illegal ownership of wild animals.

According to the police, a 14-year-old boy in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, was bitten on the back of his hand by a cobra Tuesday, prompting an emergency call to 119. He showed signs of paralysis and was airlifted to the Armed Forces Capital Hospital in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, where he received anti-venom treatment.

The bite reportedly occurred when he took the cobra out of its cage to sell it to another person. The snake was a forest cobra, which he had obtained through an online community. The species is a designated wild animal under the Wildlife Protection and Management Act, and trading or keeping it is prohibited in principle.

Police plan to investigate how the cobra was traded before deciding whether to formally book him.

This is the latest case of someone in Korea being caught illegally keeping dangerous wild animals. In July, a crocodile caught in a stream in Yeoju, Gyeonggi Province, was identified as a Siamese crocodile. The species is listed as a Class 1 internationally endangered species under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

A man in his 30s was booked by police on charges of keeping the crocodile he bought in 2023 for 1.2 million won ($905) through an online community that trades reptiles.

Illegal possession of the species has led to prison sentences before. In 2016, a social media personality was sentenced to four months in prison for violating the Wildlife Protection and Management Act after keeping a Siamese crocodile at home for eight years and feeding it rabbits and other animals.