Hyderabad: Friends of Snakes Society, a city-based conservation group that works with the state forest department, on Tuesday released its annual report stating that it had rescued 3,433 snakes that had wandered close to human habitations.“This number indicates the number of animals displaced due to human activities including land clearances,” the society said.
Among the rescued snakes were 1,608 spectacled cobras, amounting to 46.84 per cent. Another 1,055 rat snakes were rescued by the society. About 52 per cent of the snakes rescued were venomous.
The organisation carries out rescue-relocation activities in Hyderabad, Ranga Reddy and Karimnagar districts,It said that it had rescued 56 wild animals and birds belonging to 20 different species last year.
Animals requiring veterinary care were sent to the Nehru Zoological Park for rehabilitation. Society member V. Avinash said hundreds of people die of snake bites all over the state except in Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts.
“Here the number of deaths stays in single digit figures, owing to our constant intervention with the rescue-relocation and awareness programmes,” he said.
