14-year-old helps rescue 9 snakes in Byappanahalli

Nine snakes were rescued at Satyanagar near Byappanahalli in the city recently by a 14-year-old boy and a 27-year-old man. Alahan Nawaz, studying in the 9th grade, and Gopi N, a bank employee, together rescued nine snakes in two days.
Gopi, who works in Byappanahalli, walked past a bushy area every day.One day, he happened to see some children throwing stones at snakes.Gopi then called his friend Alahan to rescue the snakes.The two went to the spot at 5 pm on Thursday and rescued five snakes with the assistance of a hook. They released the snakes in a nearby lake. On Friday, the two friends went to the spot again and rescued four more snakes, and released these too in the lake.
The snakes were the Checkered keelback, which is a water snake. “The snakes were about 3­5 feet long.Water snakes are harmless. We didn't want these snakes to be killed and hence rescued them. We put all of them into a bag and released them in the lake,“ Alahan told BM.
Alahan and Gopi are volunteers with Vanamitra, an organisation that works for the conservation of wildlife. “I love animals, so am not scared of them. I didn't want animals to be killed, and hence rescue them. I was trained by Vanamitra. I have rescued nearly 40 snakes so far,“ added Alahan.