Photo credits: Sagar Pandhi
Author: Pawan Sharma
A cobra posing infront of our camera lens @ Yogi Hills Club House- after being rescued by our team.
5/3/2014
A cobra was rescued from the swimming pool of a clubhouse at Mulund, the snake had entered the club house premises through a pipe which was connected to the SGNP (Sanjay Gandhi National Park) and had fallen inside the swimming pool after watching the security guard watching it.
A distress call was made on our helpline number by the concerned authorities of the club house after the security guard reported the scene.
Our rescue team soon reached the location and found the hooded reptile hiding in a corner as our team reached near the snake it entered a pipe and refused to come out, although it had no way out. The reptile was rescued safely after a long rescue operation. It was soon registered with the forest department and released back to wild.
I was not a part of the rescue team during this rescue but I have been visiting this area since 2008 and this specific club house since 2010 and have always rescued amazing reptiles ranging from a few inches long Kukri to six to ten feet long Indian rock pythons and thus wanted to write about this place.
Snakes and other wild animals are frequent visitors in this area as it is very close to the forest, but snakes are more regularly found here in almost all the seasons of the year because of many natural and man-made reasons. Initially people used to kill them, but with the help of some real genuine residents and my team mates we made the people aware about the importance of snakes in the surrounding, we provided them with basic safety measures using which human reptile conflict could be avoided and rescued the snakes which were stuck or were found in areas where children played or the areas which had more potential for a conflict.
Today the people are much aware about the concept of co-existing with the wild, today even if there is a snake inside a house, residents do not kill it, they safeguard their children and pets, patiently keep an eye on the reptile and wait with full trust till rescue help reaches. Many residents and security guards are so comfortable with the presence of rat and cat snakes in and around them that they do not call us or raise threat alarms after spotting them. I highly appreciate this level of participation, support and co-operation from the residents and proudly say that we (Mulundkars) have set an example among all the people living around the periphery of the national park.
Human wildlife conflict management strategies of a developing country represents the level of wildlife conservation a nation conducts and supports, and for that we need to aware and involve more and more people, thus make the complicated relation between man and wild simpler.
After performing thousands of rescues, out of which each one was a different situation and experience kept on adding to the count, hundreds were discussed with my team and other like minded individuals it makes me feel great to share the first story. Hope I keep finding time and space to convert some good stories into readable material and publish it in #TheRAWWFiles.
No comments:
Post a Comment