Srinagar July 6: The Wildlife SOS Rapid Response Unit on Wednesday has rescued three Levantine vipers from different situations in Srinagar and released them back into the wild.
As per an official, Wildlife SOS rescued three Levantine vipers from a government office mess and two residential buildings last week. Employees of a government office were shocked to find the viper in their mess and they quickly alerted the Wildlife SOS Rapid Response Unit operating out of Jammu and Kashmir on their 24×7 rescue helpline (+91 7006692300, +91 9419778280).
The Wildlife SOS rescue team reached the location with the requisite equipment and protective gear and exercising extreme caution, safely extricated the nearly 4-foot-long venomous snake. Besides, the team rescued two vipers from residences in the Dalgate and Buchwara areas. After conducting medical assessments, all three snakes were found healthy and released back into their natural habitat, the official said.
Aaliya Mir, Education Officer and Programme Head- Jammu and Kashmir, Wildlife SOS said, “This makes it the third viper rescue that we successfully carried out this year from this particular government mess”. She said that Levantine vipers are capable of “lightning-fast strikes when provoked and will give out a warning hiss before striking”. “This snake was highly aggressive, so we had to apply extreme caution while extricating the reptile,” she said.
A Levantine viper was rescued from the garden of former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti’s residence last month. Additionally, an Indian rat snake was rescued at the periphery of Srinagar city, which had fallen into a deep, open well. The month was rounded off with the team rescuing another rat snake from the computer lab of a college.