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"Rock pythons are rarely found in cities," says Santosh Shinde of Spreading Awareness on Reptiles & Rehabilitation Programme (or SARRP, Sanskrit for snake), the outfit that rescued the reptile in the rickshaw. Nonetheless, he says, "Last year we found 25 pythons in one month." As for venomous snakes, it would be easier to list the parts of Mumbai they are not found. SARRP rescued 130 reptiles in June, when the monsoon starts, up 14% from last year.
“城市里很少见到岩蟒，”桑托什·欣德说，他所在的“传播爬行动物意识和康复项目”(SARRP，梵语中“蛇”的意思)就是在三轮车里救下这条岩蟒的机构。尽管如此，他说，“去年我们一个月里发现了25条蟒蛇。”至于毒蛇，列出孟买没有毒蛇的地方会更容易。今年6月季风开始时，SARRP救援了130只爬行动物，比去年增加了14%。
"In the summer we get a lot of snakes that are dehydrated and in the monsoon displacement is very common," says Madhurita Gupta of the Snake Conservation Trust, another serpent-saving society. "But this year it has become too much." She attributes the increasing number of snake-sightings to three factors: extreme rainfall driven by climate change, development encroaching on Mumbai's forests and the piles of festering garbage that blight the city.
“夏天我们会碰到很多脱水的蛇，在季风中迁徙的蛇是很常见的。”来自另一个蛇保护组织“蛇保护信托”的马胡瑞塔·古普塔说。 “但今年的蛇太多了。”她将越来越多的蛇目击事件归因于三个因素：气候变化导致的极端降雨，孟买的森林不断受到侵蚀，以及摧残着这个城市的成堆的垃圾。
When people see a snake, they "immediately go to pray or throw (an auspicious) red cloth", says Dr Gupta. Or they "try to kill or attack it, and then they get bitten". Her staff are trying to teach the public to distinguish venomous snakes from others. So is Mr Shinde, who argues that, just as people know the difference between a Doberman and a Pomeranian, they should be able to tell a harmless rat snake from the deadly "big four": cobras, kraits and two types of viper. The WHO reckons 58,000 Indians die every year of snake bites. Official estimates are lower, but still high enough to give India the highest snakebite-mortality rate in the world. On August 13th this year, Hindus mark Naag Panchami, a day on which snakes are worshipped. The best way to honour the creatures may be to learn a little more about them.
古普塔博士说，当人们看到蛇时，他们会“立即祈祷或投掷(吉祥的)红布”，或者“尝试杀死或攻击蛇，然后他们就会被咬”。她的工作人员正试图教公众区分毒蛇和其他种类的蛇。欣德也是如此，他认为，就像人们知道杜宾和博美的区别一样，他们应该能够区分无害的鼠蛇和致命的“四大”蛇：眼镜蛇、金环蛇和两种蝰蛇。据世界卫生组织估计，每年有5.8万印度人死于蛇咬伤。官方估计的数字较低，但仍足以使印度成为世界上毒蛇咬伤死亡率最高的国家。印度教徒选定8月13日为纳嘉潘查密节，他们会在这一天祭拜蛇神。而尊敬这些生物的最好的方式可能就是多了解它们一点。
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