Snake Wanders Into Metro Train, Caught After 5-Day Search

A snake measuring roughly around two feet long was finally rescued Monday after it found its way in one of the trains of the Hyderabad Metro Rail parked at LB Nagar Metro Station.

Metro Rail authorities and snake experts were “on their toes” for five days trying to locate the reptile.

The rescue was initiated by Friends of Snake Society (FoSS), who found the Bronzeback tree snake (Dendrelaphis tristis) inside the driver's cabin from one of the parked trains. The snake was on board the whole time and “took multiple trips” before it was discovered.

“We found it between the pilot's dashboard and the windscreen,” MS Jayashankar of the FoSS said in an interview.

FoSS secretary general Avinash Visvanathan meanwhile said that the snake is non-poisonous and harmless to humans.

It was first spotted on August 14^th at around 11:00AM near Dilsukhnagar, he added.

The train was stopped and the FoSS were called to rescue the snake.

Thorough searches were conducted by the team over the next few days, but it “yielded no results as the slender reptile managed to slither in between engine machinery and remained hidden.”

The reptile was finally found Monday when it was sighted again inside the same cabin and was immediately rescued by the responding members of the group.

“The snake will be relocated to [a] suitable forest habitat with the help of the Forest Department,” said Visvanathan.

Visvanathan reminded the citizens that there is no need to panic should they encounter one as this is a “one-off situation.” Since these type of snake “like to climb heights,” this particular one could have climbed a tree and slithered its way to the cabin.

“It may have even entered from a metro depot,” he added, saying that it was their first time to rescue a snake from an elevated metro train.

“Usually, we rescue snakes from houses, cars, bikes, regular trains.”

Founded in 1995 and registered under the Society Registration Act snakes, the Friends of Snakes Society is a non-profit organization based in India dedictated to the protection of snakes, as well as public education about these reptiles.

The FoSS works with the Andhra Pradesh Forest Department in their effort to rescue snakes that enter human habitation and their relocation thereafter. They also conduct awareness programs about these “gravely misunderstood creatures,” while at the same time “eradicating age old myths and misconceptions about them.”