Snakes in, kitchen, bedroom and toilet, courtesy unplanned urbanisation
- Watch out for cobra, russel viper and other snakes in your bedroom, kitchen, toilet and bathroom
- The BBMP is getting 50 rescue calls pertaining to snakes spotting at home
- Wildlife enthusiasts say this is because unplanned urbanisation
- Bengaluru urban wildlife habitat impacted by rapid construction and converting of land into sites and layout
FollowÂ
According to the report from Bruhat Bengaluru Forest Division, everyday, the civic body control room is receiving about 50 rescue calls. The majority of these calls are from extension areas like, Thanisandra, Yelhanka, Hegdenagar, Horamavu, HSR Layout, Kengeri, RR Nagar, Marathalli which was once wildlife habitat has been now converted into residential area.
Former wildlife warden and environmentalist Sharath Babu said the city's urban wildlife habitat is shrinking and all the green and forest area is being replaced with layouts and sites hence whenever there is variation in weather, be it summer or rains, these reptiles enter homes. "Cobra and Russel Viper are the most common snake species that are found in homes, sit out area, bathroom, toilet, kitchen as these places are relatively cool," he said.Â
He further added that instead of saying snakes, mongoose and the pangolin are entering homes, people should say that they encroached the wildlife habitat and must know to live with it. "When such animals and reptiles are spotted, the public must not try to deal with these animals  by themselves. Instead, they should call BBMP control room which will depute the local wildlife warden or attendee to handle the case
Appu Rao, Deputy Conservator of Forest who is monitoring the overall operations of urban forest and wildlife conservation in BBMP area, says, "We have volunteers spread across still we are not able to attend all the rescue calls as the BBMP area is huge. Every day about 50 calls are registered at the BBMP control room especially during monsoon. The water enters their habitat, and these reptiles start coming outside. The public is expected to call the control room and seek help to deal with snakes and wild animals to avoid any untoward incidents."
Mohan K a wildlife volunteer says, he gets at least 25 calls per day and areas nearby are attended easily but calls from distance are routed to other volunteers. "During monsoon, the snakes come out to hunt for their prey. After the catch, the snakes usually move into a calm place and hence land up in house gardens and also enter homes," he said.
