Murthy Kantimahanti and his team at Eastern Ghats Wildlife Society (EGWS) have never been busier in summers before. Regular phone calls from people about king cobras slithering into farms and houses in the rural areas surrounding Visakhapatnam kept them on their toes.
“This is unusual. King cobras venturing into human habitations in summer is a rare occurrence in the Eastern Ghat region. But, we have rescued four king cobras in the past two months,” says Mr. Murthy, founder of the EGWS.
The society is a grassroots level non-profit organisation working for conservation of wildlife in the Eastern Ghat region, by promoting the idea of people living in harmony with the nature.
According to Mr. Murthy, the incidents of human-snake conflict are on the rise during the lockdown imposed to check the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mr. Murthy and his team rescued a king cobra which holed up in a tree stump for three days in East Godavari district on April 9.
Following the incident, four more king cobras were rescued from Devarapalli mandal during April and May. “We rescued 11 king cobras between April 2019 and May 2020, most of them from rural mandals in Visakhapatnam district.
Last year, the EGWS rescued 135 snakes of 12 different species from the north eastern ghats region.
Less human activity
“Less human activity owing to the lockdown could be the reason snakes venturing into uncharted territories or just frequenting to the areas they would not slither into otherwise,” observes Mr. Murthy.
The EGWS is collaborating with the Forest Department and Madras Crocodile Bank Trust on a project aiming at conservation of king cobra populations in the Eastern Ghat region in Andhra Pradesh. The project is also supported by Houston Zoo and Disney Conservation Fund.
In the red zone
Threatened by rapid destruction of their natural habitat, king cobra, the world’s longest venomous snake, has been listed as ‘vulnerable’ in the IUCN Red List since 2010. “The king cobras are being killed on sight by people indiscriminately in the north Eastern Ghat region, which calls for measures to protect the species. King cobra predominantly feed on other snakes.The species plays a vital role in maintaining the ecological balance,” Mr. Murthy points out, ahead of World Snake Day which is observed globally on July 16 every year.
Human-snake conflict
In a bid to provide on-the-ground solutions to mitigate human-snake conflicts, the EGWS is working with four local field assistants who cover Cheedikada, Devarapalli and Madugula mandals. The society has reached out to 36 villages so far as part of the human-snake conflict mitigation programmes.
“Support of NGOs is vital in expanding our reach to rural pockets of the region. In East Godavari and Krishna districts, we distributed snake kits to the snake rescuers in the past,” says Ananth Shanker, District Forest Officer, Visakhapatnam.
