Calcutta: Snakes captured from houses, offices and parks across New Town and from parts of Salt Lake are being released in the forests of Jhargram and Bankura by the state forest department.
The Wildlife Rescue and Transit Facility of the forest department in Salt Lake’s Baisakhi is getting more than 80 calls per month from the three action areas of the township and from parts of Salt Lake.
On average, around 30 snakes of different species are being captured by forest department personnel in a month, a senior forester at the facility told The Telegraph on Wednesday.
After capturing a snake, the foresters first identify it as venomous or non-venomous and then keep it under observation for a few days.
When the number reaches 20 or more, these snakes are transported in specialised containers to the forests of Jhargram and Bankura where they are released.
Ideally, any wild animal or reptile that is caught or rescued should be released near its own habitat, another senior forester said.
However, since both New Town and Salt Lake are urban areas the forest department decided to rehabilitate the snakes in Bankura and Jhargram.
“The forests of Bankura and Jhargram have very similar habitat and climatic conditions where the snakes can thrive easily,” said Manoj Kumar Josh, the range officer of the wildlife rescue and rehabilitation facility in Salt Lake’s Baisakhi.
According to Josh, if they try to rehabilitate the snakes near the areas from where they have been caught then there are chances that they will again enter homes and offices.
“If we release the snakes back in New Town then chances are high that they will again enter people’s houses risking their lives as well as endangering residents or commuters,” Josh said.
Two men in their 20s have already lost their lives to snakebites in New Town and a Class X student had to be hospitalised after she was bitten by a snake in the courtyard of her house in Akandakeshari on the fringes of New Town.
A Salt Lake resident, too, had to be hospitalised after he was bitten by a venomous snake.
Snake sightings are quite common in New Town and Rajarhat and both the New Town Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA) and the forest department have earmarked areas where snakes are being sighted regularly. They have also made a list of housing complexes and housing societies that have been reporting snake sightings regularly.
Herpetologist Anirban Chaudhuri, who has conducted snake management workshops in New Town and Rajarhat, said sightings of snakes are not unusual during the rainy season and should not cause a panic.
“It is best to call in a team from the forest department or NGOs who know how to handle them,” said Chaudhuri.