Venomous snakes invade several parts of Hyderabad

Hyderabad: Snakes being rescued in the city has become a daily affair. On Wednesday night a six-feet-long python was found in front of the Banjara Hills traffic police station which was rescued. On Thursday, four cobras were rescued from different parts of the city.

At Indira Park a snake was spotted inside a car recently, while a rat snake was found at a house in Shahalibanda, and a python was seen crawling along the road near a gated community in KPHB. Nearly half of the snakes rescued are venomous cobras, followed by non-poisonous rat snakes.

Till May this year, nearly 1,007 snakes were rescued in the city, of which 457 were cobras. Last year 3,500 snakes were rescued and once again half of them were cobras. Not surprisingly, the Osmania General Hospital gets 60-90 snake-bite cases every month and the figure increases during monsoon.

Four venomous snake species are found in Hyderabad – cobra, common krait, Russel's viper and the rare saw-scaled viper. In Telangana, snakes can only be rescued by Forest officials or by volunteers of Friends of Snakes Society.

Mr Avinash Visvanathan, general secretary of FoSS, said, “While one might think that the population of snakes has increased in the city, there is no study to establish that. It might be also due to fragmentation and destruction of snake habitats, resulting in frequent snake-human conflicts.”

Dr Shrirang Abkari, consultant physician for a private hospital said, “If bitten by a snake one should rush to a hospital.Swelling, redness, bleeding, breathing problems and paralysis are some of the symptoms of a bite by a venomous snake. Sometimes people tie a cloth really hard around the bite area or try to suck out the poison, which should not be done. The affected organ should be kept immobile.”