It was around dusk and Kalicharan had just settled down to have his lunch after a tiring day in the agricultural fields in Srisailam when he received the call. The voice on the other end had a sense of urgency and urged him to rush to a spot about a kilometre from Kalicharan’s place. Prepared for a long night ahead, he reached the location within minutes. Before him was an adult python trapped in a borewell pipe in a house. It took over nine hours of wait for Kalicharan to rescue the python, which was later released in the forests of Nagarjunasagar Srisailam Tiger Reserve (NSTR) under the presence of the forest officials.
Kalicharan is one of the four snake rescuers trained by conservation organisations like the Eastern Ghats Wildlife Society (EGWS) in collaboration with the Andhra Pradesh Forest Department to address human-snake conflict in the complex geographical terrain of NSTR. The project of training the locals in snake rescue operations and capacity building workshops initiated by the forest department was kickstarted six months ago. “Every day, we rescue nearly five snakes from the fringe villages in NSTR. On an average, more than 90 snakes are rescued in a month,” says Vignesh Appavu, Divisional Forest Officer, Markapur.
