By Aishuwarya Sudarshan
It would be easy if we only had to rescue distressed animals, but quite often we have to deal with furious mobs, panic struck crowds of people, the odd paranoid woman, severely intoxicated men trying to prove their might and more…One misty December morning the rescue team at Agra received a call about a very large python that was spotted near “Marau village”. The caller reported there was a huge mob that was gathered at the spot and if we didn’t get there soon to help the snake, chances are the snake may not survive the mob attack!! Time was of the essence and our team rushed to the spot without further delay.
It is excruciatingly painful to negotiate with an angry crowd of people and this often makes rescuing a ten foot long gigantic python look like child’s play!! The plan of action at that point was to stop the mob from harming the snake and relocate the snake to a safe location.
It took a lot of convincing for the mob to calm down and once they were assured by us that we would relocate the snake and there would be no danger to the village, the crowd moved back allowing our team to start the rescue operation.
The snake was understandably terrified of the advancing, menacing crowd surrounding it and was pushing itself deeper into a burrow in an attempt to protect itself. The only option before us was to extricate the python from the deep burrow it had managed to hide itself in and release it in a safe forest area, away from people who could harm it!
It took us over two hours to extricate the 25 kilo, ten foot long python from the deep burrow. The python had a large injury on its head and mouth which was clearly caused by some ignorant people who had tried to attack the snake. As we loaded the python up into our mini truck and drove off into the mist, we left behind us a group of villagers who were now aware that there was no need to kill the python. The python in the mist was now safe! We quickly shifted the large snake to the wildlife hospital where our vets could clean and medicate the wounds.
Pythons are slow moving in winter and rarely try to escape even when attacked. Because of their size and mythical rumors that surround them, they are feared by many people who tend to kill them mistaking them to be venomous and dangerous.
These reptiles are protected in India and listed under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972.
Our large python is presently under treatment for his injuries and upon his complete recovery, will be released in a safe forest away where he will be far away from angry mobs.
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