Morning walkers in the Muralinagar area found a huge 13-ft Indian rock python curled up just outside the gate of a residence on Wednesday. A call was made to the city’s snake catcher Rokkam Kiran, popularly known as ‘Snake Kiran’, who bagged the reptile and took it out of harm’s way.
The python, weighing about 45 kg, has been sent to the zoo.
The area where the reptile was caught is about 200 m from Bala Bhanu School and lies at the foot of the Simhachalam hill with dense vegetation of cashew and jackfruit trees. Wild animal sightings are not uncommon in the locality. Wild bears and boars are known to forage in the cashew plantations. Local householders say they have often encountered snakes that had strayed from the brush on the hillsides.
“Last year, we caught an 8-ft python at Madhurawada that had fed on 13 calves,” Kiran said. A police officer, ACP Bhima Rao, says there is a need to improve street-lighting in the area. As there is a waterbody nearby, wild animals such as leopards do frequent the area.
Incidents of wild animals such as panthers and reptiles straying into human habitations have been on the rise, not only in Visakhapatnam but also in places such as Rajahmundry and Tirupati.
In the past year, after cyclone Hudhud hit Visakhapatnam, Kiran caught about 10 Indian rock pythons and over 1,500 snakes such as vipers, cobras, rat snakes, and kraits in localities at the foot of hillocks.
“Seven panthers that strayed into human habitations were captured in the last 10 years, while two others were crushed under the wheels of trucks on the highway,” District Forest Officer Ram Mohan Rao said.
Prof. U. Shameem of the Department of Zoology at Andhra University said that the increased incidence of pythons straying into human areas was a clear indication that their native habitats were being encroached upon.
“Being rendered homeless and starvation are the prime reasons why wild animals venture into human localities,” he said.
Mr. Ram Mohan Rao said wild animal encounters were common in all places that have a combination of forest and urban habitats.
Vizag, for instance, envelops two reserve forests, Sitakonda and Kambalakonda, within it. While Sitakonda occupies about 500 hectares, Kambalakonda sprawls over 7,100 hectares.
While these two forests have remained largely untouched, except for encroachment on the fringes, the city has lost about 80 per cent of the vegetation on what are called revenue hillocks, thanks to human encroachment and illegal quarrying.
“Though revenue hillocks are not classified as reserve forests, they do have sufficient foliage for animal sustenance. Most of the stray panthers and pythons sighted here have been from these hillocks,” said Prof. Yerri Babu of the Department of Zoology of Andhra University.
Mr. Kiran said pythons and leopards were more likely to figure in stray encounters because they have very strong digestive systems and therefore need food on a daily basis.
And if that is not available in the forest, they move into human habitats to feed on dogs and lambs.
While encroachment of forest land forces animals such as panthers and pythons to move into human habitats, encroachment of agricultural lands pushes venomous snakes such as cobras, kraits, and vipers into human homes.
