The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : `Mysterious' python strikes terror

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jun 06, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

`Mysterious' python strikes terror

By T.Lalith Singh

HYDERABAD, JUNE 5. Each time Yellaiah recounts his nightmarish experience a shiver runs down his spine. It is been five days since he had a face off with a `long and fat' python that slithered past him, but he is unable to forget the encounter.

The shepherd is not the only one who claims to have seen the snake, in fact, the entire hamlet of Kawadipally near Abdullahpurmet on the city outskirts appears to be gripped by the fear of the mysterious python with tales that it had swallowed two lambs before disappearing into the nearby hillocks.

"It was huge, very huge. This much," Yellaiah explains wide-eyed spreading his hands. He claims to have spotted the python swallowing one of the lambs when he took his goats towards the fields for grazing. Shocked, at the sight he ran as fast as he could to inform the other villagers. Two days later, another villager, Venkatesh, a toddy-tapper, too said that he had seen the python and chasing a peacock! He has not returned to work after the incident. His friend Sanjeeva says Venkatesh was shouting like a mad man. Sanjeeva says he looked for the snake carrying a stick but admits to have "chickened out at the last minute."

Another villager, Sathi Reddy, says a boy ran out from the fields screaming that the python had swallowed another lamb. The village centre, these days is a place for animated discussions about the python's exploits. Many are willing to take the trip to the spots where the snake was last sighted though the size and the place it probably went into hiding varied on Saturday. Kawadipally is separated from a thick forest by a hillock and peacocks crossover is a common sight. As the news spread, local authorities and police got wind of it and informed the Forest Department. K. Raj Kumar of the Friends of Snakes Society was also rushed to the village but his search was in vain.

The Divisional Forest Officer, Wildlife Management, A. Sankaran, says that a python after swallowing a large prey like a lamb usually will not move for sometime. He also points out that no creep marks were seen at the places where the villagers claimed to have spotted the python. "Still, we have asked the villagers to alert us when they sight the snake next time," he adds.

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