Snakes come crawling out, calls for rescue on the rise
Oppili.P@timesgroup.com
Chennai: 11.05.2020
It’s summer and reptiles, particularly snakes, are beginning to crawl out, looking for cool places to hide.
Already, the wildlife headquarters range office in the city is getting about half-a dozen calls a day from residents, mainly in the suburbs, saying snakes had strayed in to human habitation and had to be rescued.
Range officer Mohan said Chromepet, Pallavaram, Hasthinapuram, Medavakkam and Madambakkam are among the suburbs, where snakes have strayed into, while in the core city, they have been spotted in such places as Nandanam, T Nagar, Taramani, Velachery and Guindy in the past one month.
Herpetologist V Kalaiarasan says unused bricks, logs or tiles will attract snakes that try to hide under them and that workers, especially in the construction sector, should be careful while removing such unused material.
Well-known herpetologist Romulus Whitaker said rats and mice, found in large numbers around homes, were a big draw for snakes, adding that most of them were luckily harmless.
“If you keep rodents away by catching or killing them you are doing the right thing.
“It will also help if you learn to identify the very few venomous snakes that live around us so that if a harmless reptile like a rat snake, water snake or bronzeback shows up you can just ignore it.”
Cobra, Russell’s viper, krait and saw-scaled viper are the only four venomous snakes likely to be seen in most of India and in case any one of these is spotted near a house, it’s best to leave it alone, he said.
Any resident can call the forest department on 044-22200335 or an authorized snake rescuer — there is at least one in almost every town in the state - but should not try to catch or kill a snake, said Mohan.
A sizeable number of venomous snakes brought to his office are released after a few days in reserve forests in Tiruvallur district or Chengalpet, he said.
WATCH OUT: A file photo of snakes rescued in Velachery
No comments:
Post a Comment