A 9-feet-long rock python, weighing around 12 kg, was spotted at a village in Ganjam district of district.
Activists of animal welfare organisation, 'People for Animals', along with forest personnel led by range officer of Digapahandi forest range, A Madhabilata, rescued the reptile from a threshing yard at Odasingi village yesterday, a forest official said.
The reptile would be released into the wild near Changudidei hill, he said.
"It is rare for reptiles to move out of their hideouts in winter. So the python's movements were unusual. We think that the reptile is two-year-old," Sameer Kumar Tripathy, a wildlife activist, said.
This is the second rock python that was rescued from the area in the last three months. In October 2017, a full-grown python was rescued from Jalamaripalli village.
Berhampur Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), Asish Kumar Behera said that the Indian rock python is sighted frequently in the area.
The Indian rock python is a large non-venomous python species. It is protected under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 and is listed under Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna, which regulates the international trade of wildlife species, said Behera.
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