“I saw a number of snakes in our area before. But, this is the longest one I have ever seen in my life,” said T. Srinivasa Rao, a retired government official.
He had constructed a house after retirement and has been living with his family members near the HB Colony at Purushottapuram. The colony doesn’t have pucca roads and proper drains, and many plots are still vacant and there is growth of shrubs all around. It was around 7.30 p.m. on Wednesday. Srinivasa Rao and his family members had the shock of their lives when they saw a huge python lay in a coil in a corner of their compound. “It was dark and there was every danger of our family members going that way without noticing the reptile. We are grateful to our dog, which alerted us by continuously barking at the snake,” said Mr. Srinivasa Rao. They began shouting and people gathered around their compound, but no one dared approach the huge snake, which seemed to be resting after a heavy meal, probably it had swallowed some animal.
“I suddenly remembered that I had noted down the phone number of a snake catcher in my phone book, when it appeared in a newspaper five years ago. I immediately called him and he arrived in less than an hour and caught the snake, relieving us of our tension,” he said expressing his gratitude.
“I caught the snake and took it to my home last night to hand it over to the zoo today. The authorities asked me to leave it in the wild as the zoo already has a number of pythons. The 10-foot-long reptile is an Indian Rock Python,” snake catcher U. Kiran, who has been catching snakes since 2004, told The Hindu on Thursday.
“I have made an entry into the Limca Book of Records this year for catching over 10,000 snakes. I am grateful to the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant management for allotting me a quarter free of cost in recognition of my services in catching snakes in the plant and residential areas. Their gesture helped me in gaining an entry into the Limca Book, as I caught the maximum number of snakes in the steel plant area,” he said and was optimistic that the plant management would show him a livelihood. He can be reached on mobile No. 9849140500.
