Reticulated Python Rescued from IIT-Madras Campus

After a month-long effort, the Forest Department and snake rescue volunteers successfully captured a 12-foot reticulated python within the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT-M) campus. The snake, spotted multiple times by IIT-M workers, prompted a coordinated search by the Forest Department, IIT-M staff, and volunteers from the Besant Memorial Animal Dispensary.

Trap cages with hens were strategically placed based on sightings, and poultry droppings were scattered to lure the python. Members of the Irula community were also involved in the search.

Believed to have escaped from the Snake Park years ago, the non-venomous constrictor, weighing approximately 30 kg, is now safely housed in the Children’s Park. Reticulated pythons, native to Southeast Asia, are known as the world’s longest and third heaviest snakes, capable of swallowing humans.