Hindustan Times ST (Mumbai)

Giant snake spotted at school near Malabar Hill, rescued

- HT Correspond­ent

Students at a school in Babulnath had an unexpected visitor on Wednesday- a giant, 10.5 foot long snake was crawling around the school premises, and was later caught by an ex-student.

The snake was first spotted crawling on the window pane on the first floor of the Bhagini Kala Mandir school building, which is close to Malabar Hill. Teachers were busy conducting oral examinatio­ns, when students caught a glimpse of the snake wiggling outside the window, said school authoritie­s.

“This is the first time in 60 years of our school’s history that we spotted a snake outside the school,” said Meghana Osahan, school administra­tor, adding that snake sightings have been reported few times in Malabar Hill and Walkeshwar areas, close to the school. “Since our students come from that neighbhour­hood, they are familiar with snakes, and so they didn’t panic.”

The school immediatel­y called Shubham Bendre, who is their alumnus and is trained to rescue snakes. “I found the snake slithering around in the compound and released it in the green zone close to Hanging Gardens,” said Bendre, who works with the forest department to rescue snakes.

Bendre said that the snake must have come down to the school from the Malabar Hill forest area in search of water, because of the high temperatur­es that the city has been experienci­ng.

 ?? HT PHOTO ?? The 10.5foot long snake was spotted on a windowpane.
HT PHOTO The 10.5foot long snake was spotted on a windowpane.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from India