Cobras number is increasing in Hyderabad

Forest department officials of Hyderabad has caught the trap of snakes(Poisonous) in most residential areas like Jubilee Hills, Gachibowli, Kondapur and Attapur. According to an analysis of Friends of Snake Society, poisonous snakes are being suitable to human habits, also confessed that 50% of the snakes rescued are spectacled cobras.

FoSS chief Avinash Visvanathan said, ”The trend we observed in metros like Hyderabad was that the presence of certain snake species that prey on rats is increasing. Cobras and Rat Snakes population is increasing particularly in the open plots filled with garbage which has high rodent population. Forest-dwelling non-venomous species like Buff Striped Keelback and Rock Python have almost been wiped out in the city, the latter due to indiscriminate rock blasting for construction. As a result, the city is being infested with poisonous snakes like Spectacled Cobra, Russels Viper, Common Krait and Saw-Scaled viper. These poisonous snakes contributed to 57 per cent of snakes rescued in the city.”

In 2018, 5593 snakes were protected by FoSS team, out of which 5457 are from twin cities. Surprisingly 2835 are Spectacled Cobras, these can live in different environmental circumstances and vary their abstinence of food notably in areas with irregular garbage clearance, rodent disposals.

Avinash said “We treat the injured snakes at Nehru Zoological Park while the healthy ones are relocated to forest areas after being kept for a while in the snake shelter in Sainikpuri,” also added “Due to unavailability of space, animals invariably are entering human settlements. Most numbers of distress calls were received from those areas that are witnessing rapid developmental activities."

Snakes are most commonly seen in June, July, October, November also depends on climatic conditions. Osmania University Zoologist Dr C Srinivasulu, “Urban ecosystems have lost tree-dwelling snakes. Only terrestrial snakes that naturally occur in the construction areas and are easily spotted are being rescued. These snakes have successfully adapted to urban conditions and thriving. Communities, where garbage is dumped in open plots abetting houses, turn breeding grounds for rats which in turn attract snakes. This show how unhygienic we are in disposing of our garbage."