TIMES OF INDIA (New Delhi) 21 December 09 Terror returns to Chambal in python form

Kanpur: Chambal Valley-- the region once infamous for breeding outlaws like Nirbhay Gujjar, Phoolan Devi, Tehsildar Singh and Malkhan Singh-- is now facing an unusual enemy these days. The region is now teeming with pythons who have made a home in the ravines of the Chambal.

From wildlife experts to snake-charmers to cops, all are converging in the ravines to catch pythons as the region has witnessed nearly 30 incidents of pythons creeping into the residential areas of Etawah and Mainpuri districts including Bhadawari Farm, Kuanra, Lakhna, Chipaity, Bakewar, District Jail premises, Naurangabad, Pakkabagh, Forest Rest House, Sahson, Bithauli, Sarangpura and Sut Mill.

On late Friday night, high drama ensued after locals came across a python in the Civil Lines area of the district. The locals called the police, who summoned the rescue team of wildlife experts and NGOs and asked them to remove the eight-ft-long python from the site.

"People of around two dozen villages of the area have started keeping a vigil on their young ones and cattle because of the pythons," informed Rajiv Chauhan, secretary, Society for Conservation of Nature.

"In Sahson's Ajeet Ki Gadhiya village, which was directly linked with dacoits, a 15-ft-long python tried to swallow a young girl- Mandodari- while she was in the fields," he claimed.

The rescue team disclosed that python were mostly found in forests and were a Schedule-1 animal under the Wildlife Protection Act. Wildlife experts informed that the python came from the adjourning forest areas of Chambal.

"The snake we rescued on Friday is a healthy specimen and it is the 19th time in the past few days that we have rescued such a huge python from the residential areas. We have been releasing pythons in the Reserved Forest area. We also appreciate the efforts of the police and the patience of the residents who ensured the safety of the snake and helped us to rescue many pythons in time," said Dr Chauhan.

Similarly, thousands of people of Sadhopura village witnessed what most people watch on Discovery channels. It was the rarest of rare site. A 15-foot Indian python had squeezed the life out of a 30-kg domestic goat who was then swallowed.

The whole goat was swallowed and the reptile disappeared in the jungles.

"Like any other day, a farmer in Sadhopur village had taken his goats to the jungles for grazing. One of the goats strayed. He never knew a python, about 15-ft, was lying in waiting. The man launched a search for his goat. And to his horror, he saw the python swallowing his goat," recalled Dr Chauhan.

Sources in the wildlife department said pythons (a nocturnal creature) drape across tree branches, camouflaged by their skin, wait to ambush their next meal. A large python could squeeze the life out of a deer and could then swallow it whole. "Pythons rarely attack humans but they are capable of doing the same," said a forest official. A python may live more than 25 years, he added.

As per wildlife experts, pythons are solitary creatures, but males and females seek each other out to mate. The female coils about her eggs to incubate them. Young pythons have many natural enemies, including eagles, crocodiles, large cats such as leopards and tigers and hyenas.

Causes of endangerment of the species include their killing. Humans had been killing pythons out of fear, for food, skins and blood believed to have medical values and of course the on the account of habitat loss.

For all one's inclination to believe that Chambal is directly linked to dacoits. It is difficult to ignore the fact that the region, in fact, has a varied topography and includes dense forests to rivers like Yamuna and Chambal. No wonder too that its wildlife is so rich in variety, including from the ghariyals, cheetal, sambhar, fishing cat, jackal, hyena to endless varieties of deer, monkeys, reptiles including python and a profusion of bird-life that includes water-birds.

On pythons intruding residential areas, Dr Chauhan reveals that it is due to depletion in forest cover. The wild animals are now meandering in populated areas to meet routine requirements. "It is due to the shortage in feed as the python mostly prey on mammals, birds and reptiles indiscriminately, but prefer mammals," added Shyam Babu Mishra, a forest ranger while talking to TOI.
Terror returns to Chambal in python form

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