Monsoon in Delhi is over but snakes are still visible as on Thursday a five foot long rat snake was rescued after it was spotted inside Shivaji College located in Raja Garden, New Delhi.
The snake is currently under observation and will soon be released back into the wild.
Students and the staff at Shivaji College were shocked to find an unexpected visitor in their midst. “A large rat snake was spotted in the campus grounds, creating quite the stir! Wildlife SOS was soon alerted about incident,” said wildlife SOS rescue team member.
HemantLamba, Administration Officer said, “Some of our students saw the snake in the lawn and immediately informed the administration.
As suggested by the Wildlife SOS team, we kept a close eye on its movement and whereabouts from a safe distance till they arrived.”
The Wildlife SOS team successfully carried out the rescue operation, much to the relief. Shortly after, the team rescued another rat snake from a house in JalVihar Colony, Lajpat Nagar. Both snakes are currently under observation and will be released back into the wild once deemed fit.
Kartick Satyanarayan, Co-founder and CEO of Wildlife SOS said, “Very few snake species in Delhi are actually venomous and even these snakes will not attack until provoked or threatened.
Though harmless, rat snakes are swift and easily excitable and may bite if threatened. Therefore, we need to exercise caution while carrying out such rescues.”
Rat snakes (Ptyas mucosa) are a highly adaptable species and are commonly found in urban areas.
They often wander into the human habitation due todepletion of natural preybase. However, due to their resemblance to cobras, this species is often misidentified as the highly venomous snake and is met with hostility and fear.