A twelve-foot long python, precariously balanced on the edge of Yamuna bridge here, has been rescued by a reptile rescue team.
The unusually long reptile, which weighed close to 20 kilograms, was rescued yesterday alongside the Kalindi Kunj bridge on Okhla barrage by the city-based NGO Wildlife SOS.
Upon receiving a call, reporting the presence of the snake, the team climbed down several feet using a stepladder as the python had moved from its original location and was balanced on the edge of the bridge.
The sighting of a giant python snake had brought traffic on the bridge to a halt, which was resumed after its rescue, the NGO said.
It is not clear how the python could have reached the bridge from the riverside.
"Pythons are excellent swimmers. We can only guess that such a large snake could have possibly accessed the bridge from the riverside," said Geeta Seshamani, co-founder of the NGO.
"It is likely that the snake got washed away by the river from a forested area upstream and then managed to extricate itself from the swirling waters by pulling itself onto the Yamuna bridge," she said.
The giant reptile is currently under medical rehabilitation and will be released into its natural habitat once found fit, the NGO said.
This is the second python to be rescued in six days in the national capital after an eight-foot-long python had surprised devotees of Chhath Puja offering prayers in IP Estate on October 30.
