The animal pictured with the cobra was a domestic ferret, not a
mongoose, except for just a few seconds at the very beginning when
a mongoose is seen.

The two are no more closely related than cats and dogs are. Viverrids,
which include the mongooses, are descended from the cat portion of
Carnivora while Mustelids, which include ferrets, are descended from
the dog portion.

I am hoping that it was a fake cobra but it does look like it could be
real (though something about the jaws looks wrong and the hood seems
pretty static but I have lousy eyes) and it looks like it got in some
strikes in which case the ferret will have died if it was real and
intact. For all the talk about animal cruelty on a video when a kid let
a ferret lick a hot pepper (which was not necessarily animal cruelty
since we've had three who adored hot peppers and would try hard to get
those or spicy foods so have had to be locked up when they were around)
this might be a true case of animal cruelty **if** that was not a fake
snake situation OR if that was a snake whose fangs and venom had been
removed because in one case (if not fake) the ferret died while in the
other the snake was injured or may have died.
*****Hopefully it was faked!*****

> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sfa5GYYM2sw&feature=related

Here is an actual mongoose:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yvdXO9N1D4&feature=related
 and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3BfL7X1uU8&NR=1

Some info on cobra bites:

http://www.engin.umich.edu/~CRE/web_mod/cobra/venom2.htm
>Cobras belong to the sub-group of snakes known as elapids; there are
>over 270 species of cobras and their relatives. An elapid's venom
>contains postsynaptic neurotoxins that spread rapidly in its victim's
>bloodstream, causing respiratory failure and, eventually, death.

The following will be human timing:

>Since the muscle response is an additive effect created by multiple
>muscle fibers, only 1/3 of the receptor sites in the diaphragm need
>to be blocked for cessation of the muscle function to occur. In this
>case, the victim usually dies within 30 minutes. The only way to save
>the life of a victim of a cobra bite is to inject the appropriate
>antivenom shortly after the patient has been bitten or put him on an
>artificial respirator.

http://www.cobras.org/report.htm
>Many snake charmers remove the fangs or the venom sacs from their
>snakes, because it is too dangerous. This practice is illegal, and
>is considered inhumane to the snake.

and

>Cobras don't always inject venom when they bite something. They can  
>do a "dry bite" if they want to.

Here is one case of a faked ferret-cobra fight with a ferret as the  
stand-in for the mongoose:
http://www.ahafilm.info/movies/mr.phtml?fid=7783

This may be another case of a faked fight for a film.

Sukie (not a vet)

Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html

[Posted in FML 5981]