Come rainy season and his phone keeps on ringing. Today is no different. Continuous rains in Tirupati and Tirumala, washed away two baby pythons into the Kapila Theertam tank, here on Saturday, requiring the services of D. Bhaskar Naidu, popularly known as ‘Pamula Naidu.’ He then rescues the snakes to be released into the wild.
Seshachalam forests
Working as a mason with the Forest Department of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), Mr. Naidu has been involved in this job of capturing the snakes, for the past two decades.
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Snakes venturing into human habitations (mainly the TTD installations) has been a common feature in the hill shrine and also the temple city, owing to the presence of lush green Seshachalam forests.
Dense forests
Mr. Naidu captures such ‘intruders’ and releases them into the forests.
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“The sight of a snake creates panic among people and the first reaction would be to kill it. However, as we are sharing their space we have to protect them too. The snakes caught in Tirumala are released in ‘Avvachari Kona’, whereas in Tirupati they are released in dense forests based on the location,” he said. Mr. Naidu was also presented with Biodiversity Award-2015, for his services in protecting snakes in Seshachalam forests.
For the past five years, Mr. Naidu has caught over 5,000 snakes and released them into the wild.
Human invasion into animal dwellings
Speaking to The Hindu , Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams Divisional Forest Officer N.V. Sivaram Prasad maintained that there might be several reasons for the animals as well as reptiles moving out of their habitats.
“Humans have primarily extended their habitations into theirs and are bound to encounter them over time. The animals, which venture into human dwellings, generally go back if there is any disturbance, whereas some adapt to the conditions, like the deer species on the Tirumala ghat road. Search for prey and weather conditions are also responsible for their movements,” he added.
New species
Highlighting a startling fact, Mr. Prasad said that they could discover new species in the Seshachalam forests, due to this movement of fauna. For example, reptiles like Nagarjuna Sagar Racer and Sri Lankan Flying Snake, were discovered as they moved out of their original habitats to that of humans.