With rains,slithery visitors keep city on toes

On Wednesday,it was the turn of the Presidents’ Estate to place a distress call. And a large (non-venomous) rat snake was eventually rescued from the sprawling lawns. On Tuesday,Member of Parliament Raghuvansh Prasad called to report a snake in the lawns of his residence on 8,Ashoka Road. This one could not be traced,meaning it was probably not a cobra. “Cobras tend to stay in one place when they are confronted. Since this snake escaped,it was perhaps not a cobra,” Khan said.

Snakes have been making more appearances than usual due to the intermittent rains in the city. In the past 15 days,the NGO,which runs the official wild animal rescue helpline in Delhi,has rescued 42 snakes from diplomatic areas,gardens and school premises. Of these,four were cobras. On July 11,another cobra was rescued after being wedged between two doors in Rohini Sector 16. From Sector 13,a rat snake was also picked up,but that was a more frantic call — the snake was in the caller’s bedroom.

On Monday,when Delhi witnessed 51 mm of rain lasting about four hours,there was a call to the helpline reporting a ‘family of snakes’. At Hauz Rani near Malviya Nagar,a family of five non-venomous sand boas were flooded out of their lair. Residents killed three snakes,but two were picked up by Wildlife SOS to release them.

“Expect more snakes to make an appearance with more rains,” said Abhishek Narayanan of Wildlife SOS. There is,however,no reason to worry as most snakes found in the Capital are non-poisonous. While reporting the presence of the reptiles,one should also take a good look to describe the snake well.