Royal snake rescued from Delhi assembly
NEWDELHI: A royal snake was rescued from the Delhi Vidhan Sabha’s library block on Wednesday — the second this year.
According to an official of Wildlife SOS , the NGO that rescued the reptile, a distressed call on the 24-hour helpline alerted the organisation’s rapid response unit to the presence of a royal snake inside the Vidhan Sabha.
The five-foot snake was found coiled up in an air cooler outside the library block by the staff. A two-member team of snake rescuers carefully extricated the snake from the cooler and transferred it into a safe transport carrier, a release by the NGO stated.
According to Wasim Akram, manager special projects at the NGO, this is the second royal snake to be rescued by the Wildlife SOS team from the Vidhan Sabha this year.
“We have taken out several snake rescues from the Vidhan Sabha premises as it is located very close to Kamla Nehru Ridge, which is home to a variety of wildlife species, mainly birds, reptiles, deer and antelopes, among others,” he said.
The royal snake (Spalerosophis atriceps), also known as a diadem snake, is non-venomous and is protected under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. These are excellent climbers and are found on trees, low bushes and crevices.
They mostly feed on rodents, lizards, birds and small mammals. As a defence mechanism under threats and stressful situ- ations, they coil up and hiss loudly but rarely bite in retaliation.
Kartick Satyanarayan, co-founder & CEO of Wildlife SOS, said: “Often, the plight of urban wildlife is dismissed because people consider them to be a nuisance and they are often met with hostility. Snakes are ecologically required for rodent control and never attack or bite unless they are cornered, stepped on or threatened.”