Python caught in a Junagadh village

Junagadh, Aug 24 (UNI) A 15-feet long python was caught at Barula village, in Maliya-Hatina tehsil, 80 km from here from a field on August 21.

A snake charmer Shantibhai Pungera (25) was called to catch the python. When Pungera arrived, the python was feasting on a jackal.

''It is dangerous to approach when the python is having its meal so, I had to wait for one-and-half hour before I could handle the snake,'' Pungera told UNI.

The snake was taken to Dewadia Park of Gir forest and was let off. Pungera also said that the male python can still be around in the outskirts of the village though no one has noticed it so far.

Pungera has been catching snakes for the last three years and claims to have caught over 400 snakes. He said he has been bitten many times and has now become used to snake poison.

Before he became a snake charmer, Pungera was selling toys to earn a livelihood. A friend of his taught him to catch snakes. He said he does not charge money to catch snakes.

Pungera also runs a 'Sarp Samrakshan Mandal'.

UNI