Personnel of the Assam forest department with the help of Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) jawans, rescued a giant python from a pond at the Bogamati Deuchunga area in Assam’s Udalguri district on Wednesday. The python, about 20 feet in length and weighing over 100 kilograms, was discovered by the local villagers in a pond. Later, the python was released in the Barnadi Wildlife Sanctuary on the foothills of the Himalayas bordering Bhutan.
The villagers, upon discovering the python in a pond, immediately informed the local forest range office who immediately rushed to the spot with a team of SSB and rescued the mammoth-sized snake after several hours of effort.
Speaking to the media after releasing the snake in the wild, Forest Officer Jiten Sud said, “The local villagers informed us that they had discovered a huge python in a pond. Our team soon rushed to the spot and saw the giant snake, about 20 feet in length and weighing over 100 kilograms, in a pond. After rescuing it from the pond, we brought the snake to the forest range office and later released it in a forest area.”
Forest officer Sud said that wild animals and other reptiles often stray into human settlements in search of food due to the fast depletion of the forest cover.
“Wild animals and snakes often stray out of the forest in search of food due to its scarcity in their habitats due to fast depletion of the forest areas. Wild animals sometimes even go on a rampage in the human settlements destroying houses and paddy fields. To avoid such occurrences, the people should be conscious,” Sud said.
The forest officer rued that they are often unable to carry out their duties well due to the limited resources available to them.
“We face several problems in performing our duties due to limited resources available. We are understaffed. We don’t even have a good vehicle, the one we have is somehow running. At times, we even have to face fuel scarcity,” he added.
The forest officer further said that for all these reasons, the villagers sometimes become enraged as they are not able to arrive on time on being called.
According to the Assam Forest Department, “The mission of the Department of Environment and Forests, Assam, is to protect and improve the environment, to safeguard the forests and wildlife of the State, to preserve and add new dimensions to the rich heritage of our composite culture, to protect and improve the natural environment, including forests, lakes, rivers and wildlife, and to have compassion for living creatures. It also encompasses opening up the forestry sector for income and employment generation among our people while conserving the priceless biodiversity of the state.”