12-foot python caught in a farm net rescued in Mirsharai, Chattogram

A python caught in a net around farmland in the Dakghar area of Wahedpur union, Mirsharai upazila, Chattogram, was rescued unharmed on the afternoon of Saturday 20 June 2026. Members of the Wildlife and Snake Rescue Team in Bangladesh freed the snake, which they said was 12 feet long and weighed about 15 kg, and later released it deep in the forest by Bawachhara lake, within Baraiyadhala National Park. Jagonews24 reported the rescue the next day, 21 June.

According to Jagonews24, local people saw the python caught in a net put up around crop fields in the Dakghar area and called the rescue team, whose members came, freed the snake and took it away.

Md Naimul Islam Niloy, a member of the team, told Jagonews24 that they rescued the python unharmed after hearing it was caught in a net. He put its length at 12 feet and its weight at about 15 kg, and said it was later released in the forest near Bawachhara lake.

Arun Roy, the Forest Department's beat officer at Barotakia, said the rescuer had told him the python was rescued and released in the forest. He thought that, with the monsoon under way, the snake had probably left the forest for a populated area in search of food.

A 2016 study by zoologists at the University of Chittagong, published in the Open Journal of Forestry, describes Baraiyadhala National Park as covering parts of Sitakunda and Mirsharai upazilas in Chattogram. It was declared a protected area on 6 April 2010 and covers 2,933.61 hectares under the Baraiyadhala Forest Range. It comprises the Baraiyadhala and Wahidpur blocks of the Baraiyadhala beat and the Kunderhat block of the Bartakia beat.

The same study lists tropical mixed-evergreen, wet evergreen and moist deciduous forest, bamboo thickets and plantations in the park. The hills of Mirsharai also hold several waterfalls, among them Khoiyachora.

The report did not name the python's species. Southeastern Bangladesh lies within the native range of the Burmese python, a non-venomous snake listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List; wild Burmese pythons average about 3.7 m (12 ft) in length.

Under section 6 of Bangladesh's Wildlife (Conservation and Security) Act, 2012, no one may hunt a wild animal without a licence or permit. Section 39 sets the penalty for breaking that rule at up to one year in prison, a fine of up to Tk 50,000, or both.

A python or any other wild snake found near homes should not be caught or killed. The safe course is the one the villagers took here: keep a distance and call the Forest Department or a trained rescue team.

Photo: Adnan azad asif / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Sources: Jagonews24, Open Journal of Forestry (University of Chittagong study, 2016), Wildlife (Conservation and Security) Act, 2012 (FAO FAOLEX), Wikipedia