A 12-foot python that got caught in wire netting in a household courtyard in Mirsarai has been rescued and released into the forest.

The python was rescued unharmed from the Thakurdighi area of Durgapur union in the upazila at noon on Wednesday, 16 October.

Inquiries found that local people saw a python caught in wire netting at a household pond in Thakurdighi on Wednesday afternoon and informed Mirsarai range officials. Under the leadership of Mirsarai range officer Shahanshah Noushad, Naimul Islam Niloy of the Wildlife and Snake Rescue Team rescued the python unharmed. The non-venomous python was released that afternoon in the forest of the Mohamaya lake area.

Md Naimul Islam Niloy of the Wild and Snake Rescue Team in Bangladesh said that on getting the news the 12-foot python was rescued unharmed and, after first aid, released into the forest in the presence of the Mirsarai upazila forest department.

Mirsarai range officer Shahanshah Noushad said that after hearing from local people they rescued the python from the settlement and released it into the forest of Mohamaya Eco Park. The python weighed about 12 kg and was 12 feet long, he said.

Zohra Mila, a wildlife and biodiversity conservation officer and young wildlife researcher, said pythons are non-venomous. They are nocturnal and very sluggish, and do not move unless they need to. The species lives alone in trees and pairs only in the breeding season, usually between March and June. Pythons are found in the country's mangrove forest, grasslands, and the evergreen hill forests of Chattogram and Sylhet. They do not usually harm people, and feed on rats, turtle eggs, snakes, jungle fowl, birds and small wild animals. A python can easily swallow animals much larger than itself.

On 9 September, officials of the Karerhat range rescued a 13-foot python from the Chhatturua area of Karerhat union in Mirsarai.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.