Hyderabad: Fifty percent of snakes rescued in the city are venomous cobras who genetically learned to stay alongside the humans and made the areas of Gachibowli, Patancheruvu, Attapur, Rajendra Nagar, Uppal, Nagaram, Jawaharnagar, Hayathnagar, Vanasthalipuram and Gandimaisam their home.
On Monday, a cobra which had preyed upon a rodent, and then a toothbrush, was rescued from a house in Bandlaguda Keesara by a volunteer N Rajender.
“Cobras have habituated to survive in human habitats, particularly in metro cities. Availability of rodents to feed upon and a flexible body is advantageous for them,” Avinash Viswanathan, General Secretary, Friends of Snake Society (FoSS) told Siasat.com.
The FoSS volunteers in the month of October rescued 1,000 snakes in Telangana, a majority of which were from the city.
“In the Indian context, during the months of October, the snakes tend to come out in search of food. So the sighting is more and rescue calls come from various localities in the city,” said Avinash.
Some species of snakes like Russell’s viper and Krait snake come from their shelters in search of mates during the winter season, considered favourable for breeding for these particular species.
On average about 150 calls are received by the FoSS in the city and the group with over 150 volunteers attend the calls. “The rescued reptiles in consultation with the forest department are relocated to forest areas in Telangana by volunteers,” he said.
In 2021, the FoSS rescued 10,500 snakes in Telangana alone. Cobras constituted around 50 percent of the total snakes recused. Indian Rat snakes were 25 percent of the total and the remaining were Russell’s viper and Checkered Keelback etc.
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