1 2 Vadodara: It’s not just crocodiles that swarm the city roads during the monsoons. Vadodara is invaded by reptiles , including monitor lizards that pop up from every nook and corner of the city during the rainy season. When the water level in the Vishwamitri river swelled following the heavy rains recently, nearly 15 monitor lizards were spotted and rescued in just one week from the dense urban localities.
“We got nearly 100 calls for snakes , including some poisonous ones, from various residential colonies in the city in just eight days. Most of these reptiles entered the houses or sneaked into the two-wheelers,” said a forest official. A few days ago, a monitor lizard was spotted scurrying around in a lane in the Karelibaug area.
Volunteers of the Wildlife Rescue Trust had a tough time catching hold of it. A Russel’s viper (a venomous snake) managed to crawl into a house in the Gotri area of the city and hid behind an LPG bottle in the kitchen. Early on Sunday morning, a cobra was rescued from the main gate of Sayajibaug.
Forest officials and wildlife activists said that they keep getting rescue calls for snakes every day. “Over the last few years, reptile rescue calls have gone up considerably due to expanding city limits as well. We have trained our volunteers in rescuing the reptiles without harming them or the humans,” said Arvind Pawar of the Wildlife Rescue Trust.
A forest official said, “Vadodara is the only city in the state where so many rescue cal.