A total of 43 baby pythons aged just about three weeks were rescued from a village Mbizzi NNya in Mpigi District about 50kms from Kampala.
The UWA problem animal team was tipped off by a report on a local television, which alleged that the pythons were construed to be evil spirits by the community members. However, this is a normal ecological phenomenon which should not be spiritualized.
The babies are African Rock Pythons and about a meter long each. However, UWA’s problem animal team which was headed by snake-catcher, Oswald Tumanya, said they failed to locate the mother of the baby pythons despite concerted efforts to find her.
Community members said they had not sighted the mother for close to two weeks. The snake was first sighted by the communities three months ago. It is estimated that the mother snake is about 7 meters long judging from its skin peelings that were found in the anthill.
The 43 baby pythons have been released near habitats that favour their survival such as wetlands in Murchison Falls, Queen Elizabeth, Lake Mburo and Mt Elgon National parks; this was done to avoid having too many pythons concentrated in one park, which could jeopardize the populations of the pythons’ prey in these parks such as the Uganda Kobs, warthogs and young buffaloes.
The community in Mbizzi Nnya is encouraged to continue monitoring the movements of the mother python, and alert UWA as soon as they sight her.
UWA would like to strongly advise the public to alert UWA or any national park offices near them about any problem animals or wildlife problems. UWA offices are spread all four regions in the country or call +256 414 355 000.
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