SIVAGANGA : This summer has been particularly unkind to the State, with people reeling under extreme heat and acute water shortage. As if to rub salt to the wound, another menace has slithered out of its burrows to terrorise a sleepy little village in Sivaganga. 

For the residents of Puthuvadi, home to some 200 families, the term snake instantly brings to mind the heavily-muscled Indian rock python. In just one month, the constrictors have fed on at least five lambs from the village; a matter of concern in a village where most rear livestock. 

The Puthuvadi waterbody (kanmai), located just 100 metres from the village and overgrown with vegetation, provides the perfect cover for constrictors. “Owing to poor maintenance by the Public Works Department (PWD), the waterbody burgeoned to spread over 160 acres over the past several years. When it was in our control, we used to maintain it well,” villagers claimed.

“Recently, the pythons started coming down from the nearby hillocks and settling in the waterbody. It is not that we did not see these creatures before; paths used to cross and we used to spot one or two. However, nowadays, spotting a python has become commonplace,” they added.

Speaking to TNIE, P Sakthivel (43), a villager, said that they have caught at least five pythons over the past five weeks -- two they captured themselves, while three were captured with the help of the forest department.

All the snakes were handed over to the forest department and later released in another location. Each of the pythons was over eight feet long. The thick vegetation in the waterbody makes it tough to catch the serpents.

Safety of kids a concern

It is not just the livestock that is at risk of being attacked by a python. Villagers use the path along the bank of the waterbody to reach the village.

“During night hours, villagers are afraid to use the path for fear of accidentally stepping on a snake,” said another villager, adding that they suspected at least 25 more pythons living in the waterbody and along its banks. They said that the snakes have also preyed on chicken and other birds. 

“Until the Forest Department takes immediate action by catching and shifting the pythons, the creatures would continue to pose a grave threat to the children from the village,” the villager said, adding that they contacted both the district administration and the forest office, but did not receive a positive response.