According to legend, during the time of colonial rule in India, the British became upset that there were too many cobras in Delhi.

To get rid of the poisonous snakes, the governor assigned a reward for each cobra killed.

At first, the number of snakes rapidly decreased as a result of their destruction.

However, soon entrepreneurial Indians began to breed the cobra themselves for the sake of the prize.

When this became known to the government and the reward for the killed cobra was cancelled, the breeders released the depreciated snakes, and thus the number of poisonous cobra not only did not decrease, but even increased.