West Kochi residents live in fear of snakes

KOCHI: The recent incident of a python being captured from Government Maharaja's Hospital at Karuvelipady in Thoppumpady has further triggered fears of snakebite in the west Kochi region. The python was captured from the thick undergrowth near the women's ward of the hospital last Saturday.
Councillors claim that python sightings were a routine affair in the heritage zone of Mattancherry and Fort Kochi."It is not just pythons. People are worried about the presence of venomous snakes. This year, three to four incidents of snakebites were reported from the area. In one of the incidents a four-year-old child was bitten by a snake," said Karuvelipady councillor P S Prakash. Fort Kochi councillor Antony Kureethra said the lush undergrowth in vacant lands, beach filled with debris and water hyacinths provide a perfect ambience for the reptiles to hide.
"Snakes like pythons reach the coastal area through backwaters, canals and other water bodies that connect sea and the Vembanad Lake," said Kureethra.
Town planning committee chairman and Fort Kochi Veli councillor, K J Sohan, pointed out the need to clean up tourist destinations and the beach.
"Sometime back a python was captured from the compound of a corporation office at Fort Kochi. There was also an incident when a venomous snake was found amidst files stacked up in an unused rack in a government office at Mattancherry," said Sohan.
Since the tourist season begins in November, the local body should take steps to clean the area. Moreover, the much-celebrated second edition of Kochi-Muziris biennale is set to begin in December.
However, Dr K J Kishorekumar, a veterinary surgeon with the Kochi corporation, ruled out the possibility of venomous snakes getting transported to the coastal areas along with the red earth brought from highlands for construction purpose.