Andhra Pradesh - Tirupati   

Python swallows blackbuck

Photo: K.V. Poornachandra Kumar

Deadly: Animal keepers catching a python which sneaked into a deer enclosure in SV Zoological Park in Tirupati on Thursday. -

TIRUPATI: A python sneaked into the deer enclosure in Sri Venkateswara Zoological Park (SVZP) here on Thursday and swallowed a six month-old blackbuck, creating jitters among the rest of the tribe. It was later captured and left in the forest near Kalyani Dam.

The 5.5 ft long python proved to be a good wriggler -- as generally are reptiles; as it entered the meshed enclosure early in the morning and caught the blackbuck unawares by rounding it up in no time. It then started to swallow the unsuspecting victim and gobbled it up slowly and fully, without leaving a trace. The animal keepers spotted the lethargic predator which was moving sluggishly after the ‘heavy meal’, captured it in a gunny bag and left it in the forests adjoining the Kalyani Dam, even while evacuating the other inmates of the enclosure to a safer spot. As the zoo compound is situated at the base of the Tirumala hills and is contiguous to the thick forests, animals such as panthers, sambars, wild boars, wild dogs, spotted deer and even panthers occasionally stray into its periphery and return to their habitat after wandering for a while. “This is just a tiff between a prey and predator which is very normal in the forests, the only difference is that it happened in the zoo compound”, the Zoo Curator K. Chandrasekhar Pillai told The Hindu .

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