This year has seen a rise in snakes coming into homes in Odisha, India, and videos of them have gone viral on the internet. Only last month, an eight-foot python was discovered in a house in Baramana village in the coastal province, The Times of India reported on Aug. 15.
Baramana villagers alerted the snake helpline, who then retrieved and released the snake at the Chandaka Wildlife Sanctuary under the supervision of forest officers.
Given Odisha’s coastal location, plus the extremities of India’s summer climate, snakes sightings are not uncommon. In a shocking case reported by the Hindustan Times on June 24, the Snake Helpline was called to a house where they found more than 100 baby cobras and 21 unhatched snake eggs. The sight of these snakes caused a girl living in the house to faint.
Snakebite deaths are reported as state-specific disaster deaths and 37% of disaster deaths in the province of Odisha were from snake bites, with 1,716 deaths from 2016 to 2018.