Snake sightings have grown by 200% in urban Gurgaon this monsoon

Come monsoon and it’s not just waterlogging and the dreaded Gurujam that give Gurugrammers nightmares. The Millennium City also gets a case of the creepy-crawlies. According to snake catchers and wildlife conservators in the city, they get over half a dozen calls from residents every day about snakes and other reptiles being found in houses. Some wildlife experts say the number of snake sightings in urban Gurgaon has grown by 200% as compared to last year, attributing it to expansion of the city into erstwhile green areas. Residents and snake catchers from the city share this unusual Gurgaon monsoon problem. For Renu Singh, a resident of Golf Course Extension Road, the day began like any other lazy Sunday morning in the monsoon but it soon turned into a world of chaos when her kids spotted a cobra in their front yard.

Anil Gandass, who works as a conservator with the Gurgaon wildlife department, attributes the rise of snake-spotting in Gurgaon to increasing urbanisation

“It was so scary,” Renu recounts, “This was the third snake spotted in our society in a month and a crowd gathered outside our house because everyone wanted to see it. My kids were more excited than scared but I was terrified.” Other residents recount their scary experience. Sector 14 resident Anil Mohan tells us, “We spotted a snake on our bathroom last week. I noticed it when I was going to take a shower before heading to work. I almost froze in fear. There was so much commotion and suddenly, every neighbour was an expert in what to do. Thankfully, we called actual experts to handle it.”
In such cases, conservators from the wildlife department or private animal experts are called in to remove the animal and release it away from residential areas. Anil Gandass, who works as a conservator with the Gurgaon wildlife department, says, “I get three-four calls from Gurgaon about a snake or a monitor lizard in a residential society or a house every single day. In the last three months, my team has caught 350 snakes and big lizards from residential areas in Gurgaon. The number wasn’t even 300 in the whole of last year.”

Monitor lizards are often spotted in areas close to Golf Course Road and sectors of New Gurgaon

Wildlife experts attribute this rise to increasing urbanisation. “There are areas that were earlier green belts or open fields but now societies are being built there. Then, trucks and containers bring stones and material from Rajasthan, which has a considerable population of snakes. We see a lot of new varieties of snakes that are not native to Gurgaon. It’s all because of that,” says Gandass. Residents whose houses have been invaded by the reptiles of late say it is a scary yet memorable experience. “My neighbour spotted a huge python in our street last month,” says Suruchi Agarwal, a Nirvana Country resident, “It was the only talking point in the whole area for two days. We are all so paranoid nowadays that we check every nook and corner of the house every morning and evening. But I have to admit it was a memorable day.”
It’s not just snakes that crawl around in Gurgaon households. Giant monitor lizards – some as big as three feet – have also been regularly spotted in areas close to Golf Course Road and sectors of New Gurgaon. “Almost half of my rescue calls about reptiles are for monitor lizards,” says Gandass.
Snake catchers say that the biggest challenge in such situations is managing the crowd that is gathered with their cellphones to capture the rescue. Sonu, a snake catcher from the city, says, “The snake is an animal and we are trained to catch it, so that is not an issue. But the people there are hard to manage. Everyone is scared but curious. Wahin khade rehte hain aur humein dhang se kaam karne ke liye peechhe hatne ke liye baar-baar bolna padta hai. Kuch ho gaya toh humko bolenge.”