Snake of protected species seized from car

The Department of Forests and Wildlife is trying to track down four
persons who escaped from the police on Monday night after being found
in possession of an Indian sand boa, a protected species of snake.
Forest officials suspect that they are part of a racket involved in
smuggling snakes. The snake was found in a car intercepted by the
Highway Police for a routine check near Karakulam on the
Thiruvananthapuram-Nedumangad route late on Monday night. The four
occupants of the car fled the scene as soon as the police team
discovered the snake inside a sack filled with sand. The snake was
handed over to the Nedumangad police station, where Forest officials
identified it as an Indian sand boa. District Forest Officer
Pradeepkumar said efforts were on to trace the owner of the vehicle
that was carrying the snake. "We have decided to launch a detailed
investigation into the incident," he said. The snake weighing about 10
kg and measuring 4.5 feet in length was handed over to the zoo. Last
month, in two separate incidents at Kumily and Palakkad, the Forest
Department had seized four sand boas and arrested five persons for
trying to smuggle the snakes into the State from Tamil Nadu. he Indian
sand boa is commonly known as 'double-headed snake' because of a blunt
tail that looks like a head. When threatened, it hides its head and
waves its banded tail. According to K. Ramachandran, Research Fellow,
Caecilian Biology Division, Department of Zoology, University of
Kerala, the demand for Indian sand boa in the illegal market is driven
by the myth of supernatural and healing powers associated with it. "It
also finds a good market in the U.S. and Europe where it is reared as
a pet," he said.

The Hindu, June 24