It's 'Raining' Reptiles In Agra, Wildlife SOS Rescues 21 In A Week!

Agra, Sep 5 (TNA) Whether it be a 5-foot-long Indian Rock Python in a hospital campus, a venomous Cobra inside Anand Engineering College or a 6-foot-long Rat Snake rescued from Gandhidham Ashram in Runakta, the unpredictable rains in the city has kept the Wildlife SOS rapid response unit on its toes!

With the monsoon rains hitting the city again, the Wildlife SOS Rapid Response Unit knows they’re in for a hectic week as various reptile species struggle to find shelter in the urban jungle they live in.

The NGO’s 24-hour rescue helpline (+91-9917109666) has been ringing off-the-hook with concerned people alerting the team to snakes, monitor lizards and even turtles that were sighted in the unlikeliest of places!

The Wildlife SOS Rapid Response Unit has rescued 20 reptiles including a five-foot-long Indian Rock Python from Pathak Hospital in Bichpuri, a four-foot-long Co-bra from Anand Engineering College premises, and a six-foot-long Indian Rat snake from Gandhi Ashram in Runakta. The NGO also rescued two Wolf snakes from Jeoni Mandi and Loha mandi snakes.

A total of 4 Indian Rock Pythons, 4 cobras, 7 wolf snakes, 4 Rat snakes, a monitor lizard and a Flap Shell turtle have been rescued this week.

Kartick Satyanarayan, Co-founder & CEO Wildlife SOS said, “The rains have prompted an increase in the reptile sightings. As common shelters for snakes and monitor lizards are flooding, they are looking for safe and dry land, thus inadvert-ently being spotted in residential areas.”

Baiju Raj M.V, Director Conservation Projects for Wildlife SOS, said, “We get maximum calls for reptile rescues during the monsoon season and we end up re-sponding to more than 10 calls a day! We request people to keep supporting our cause and report any such sighting on our helpline.”

All the snakes were kept under observation for a few hours and later released back into their natural habitat.