Kochi: When workers began clearing the long-neglected Jewish Cemetery near Ernakulam St Teresa’s College ahead of President Droupadi Murmu’s Kerala visit last week, they did not expect to uncover a massive python curled up in the undergrowth. The sighting in the heart of the busy city prompted an immediate response from forest officials, who safely rescued the reptile before the President’s arrival.

While this episode made headlines, data accessed by Onmanorama through sources at the Malayattoor Forest Division – under which most of Ernakulam district including urban Kochi falls– suggests such sightings are now alarmingly routine. Between March and September 2025, a staggering 933 pythons were rescued and relocated across Ernakulam district and nearly 70% of them were from urban Kochi.

Contrary to popular belief, these snakes are not stray wanderers from the forest but they are permanent residents of Kochi, thriving in its abandoned plots, marshy wetlands, canals, and shrinking green pockets. In March, 77% of all rescues came from urban areas; in April, 71%; in August, 68%; and in September, 66%. From quiet heritage streets to high-rise neighbourhoods, pythons have slithered deep into Kochi’s ecosystem, being comfortably at home in the city. 

The city’s python surge peaks during the monsoon, when flooded canals and drains drive them out of their hiding places. From May to July alone, officials rescued 495 pythons in Ernakulam altogether, more than half the total for the seven-month period. Though an urban-rural split of this is not available, forest officials and rescuers confirm that nearly 70% of them are from Kochi corporation limits and neighbouring urban municipalities like Thripunithura, Kalamasserry and Thrikkakara.

Mapping the rescues makes the trend undeniable and proves that it is overwhelmingly an urban affair. During March, April, August and September, for which data is available location-wise, Fort Kochi leads with 107 rescues in total, followed by Edappally (79), Tripunithura (37), and Mattancherry (22). Even plush city neighbourhoods have not been spared. Panampilly Nagar and Kadavanthra together recorded five rescues, Kalamassery had 10, and Willingdon Island saw six. Mangalavanam, the small forest patch near Marine Drive, reported 12 rescues, while densely populated Kathrikadavu and Thevara logged one each.

Python sightings in unlikely places have caused quite a stir in the city. Just weeks earlier, the city witnessed a day-long drama when a massive python was spotted coiled high on a tree inside the Post Metric Hostel compound near Maharaja’s College. The 10-hour operation drew huge crowd and multiple rescue teams as the reptile, perched nearly 30 metre above the ground, refused to move. After officials ruled out risky capture attempts, forest staff and SARPA volunteers maintained surveillance through the day. Finally, around 7.30pm, the snake slithered down on its own, allowing rescuers to safely capture it to the relief of onlookers and authorities alike.

Even the areas classified as ‘rural’ such as Alangad (20 rescues in four months) and Aluva (17), are heavily populated peripheral-urban zones, showing that the epicentre is no longer the forest fringe, but the urban areas itself. 

How urban Kochi became new jungle 
According to Assistant Conservator of Forest Mohammed Anwar, who also serves as the Snake Awareness, Rescue and Protection App (SARPA) State Nodal Officer, the trend traces back to the 2018 Kerala floods. He said floodwaters that severely affected Ernakulam carried a large number of pythons from the eastern forest regions into the district’s waterways and the reptiles have since found safe havens in the city. “There are countless refuges inside Kochi like abandoned plots, bushy old houses, marshy spots, interlinked canals and wide drainage channels where they can live undisturbed. Sewage lines and rat-infested drains are additional hideouts, and the city’s connected water bodies allow pythons to move easily between neighbourhoods until they find a suitable place to feed and lay eggs. Other cities like Kozhikode also face this issue,” he said. 

Anwar stressed that food is plentiful in urban areas. In addition to stray dogs and cats, pythons readily feed on poultry and slaughter waste. They also eat fish and other discarded meat. “People think pythons eat only live prey, but they thrive on food waste too. In some cases, we have even seen snakes regularly feeding on food waste from roadside eateries, dumped carelessly along the roads. Usually once they have a good meal, they do not hunt for a while. But when they get an easy meal here without even hunting, they eat more and grow faster than their forest counterparts,” he said. 

He also pointed to biological advantages that help pythons establish themselves in new environments. After a single mating, a female can store sperm for more than a year and fertilise her eggs later, giving her the flexibility to time reproduction to favourable conditions. “This ability is a huge advantage in an urban setting. It means they can wait to fertilise their eggs until the time is just right. For instance, when environmental conditions are perfect for the eggs to develop safely. It is also a huge advantage in areas where males are rare; a female can still have babies using stored sperm, even if she does not find a new mate that season,” he said. 

The city also offers safer, moist hideouts for laying eggs and unlike birds, reptiles do not incubate eggs, so they choose concealed sites that are not easy for predators to intrude. 

Anwar added that pythons’ physiology and behaviour suit city life. They can swim submerged, not just on the surface like many other snakes, making them hard to detect in canals and drains. Their length and strength let them climb walls and trees with ease, and they exploit overgrown corners and structural gaps to stay out of sight, he said.

SARPA volunteers said that the urban environment also boosts hatchling survival. Bhanu Prakash, a SARPA volunteer in Kochi, noted that in forest fringes hatchlings fall prey to pigs, crow-pheasants, eagles, peacocks and mongooses, but such predators are scarce inside the city. “Here they breed fast and the hatchlings survive in much higher numbers,” he said.

Prakash added that pythons are generally non-venomous and not aggressive unless provoked, which makes rescues easier than many expect. “We place a bag and they often slide in without much struggle. Some days I catch up to five pythons in Fort Kochi and Mattancherry alone,” he said.

Keeping rescued snakes safe until forest teams arrive is another practical problem for volunteers. “We have made cages at our homes to keep them safe,” Prakash said.

The Rapid Response Team of the Malayattoor Forest Division is receiving a high number of daily calls about snake sightings from Kochi, and more than 70% of those calls are for pythons. “While cobras, vipers and rat snakes remain common, pythons now dominate sightings because their size and slow movement make them more visible. Catching and releasing them in the forest has become a regular affair,” a forest officer said.