Agra, April 25 : An approximately 5-foot-long Rat snake was rescued from Janta Junior High School, an upper primary school located in Namner, Idgah Colony, Agra. The snake was kept under observation for a few hours and later released back in its natural habitat. The presence of a 5-foot-long Rat snake created quite the stir among construction workers who were working at Janta Junior High School in Namner, Agra. Due to the second wave of COVID 19 pandemic, schools are temporarily shut in Uttar Pradesh, so on-going construction work was being carried out. The snake was found resting behind a pile of marble tiles and the workers immediately contacted the police, who in turn alerted the Wildlife SOS team. A two-member team from the NGO's Rapid Response Unit soon arrived at the location with necessary rescue equipment in hand. Implementing all safety measures, the team carefully extricated the snake and transferred it into a snake bag for safer transportation. Th rat snake was found to be healthy and was released back into its natural habitat. Kartick Satyanarayan, Co-Founder and CEO of Wildlife SOS, said, "It is heartening to see a rise in the number of people making an informed decision of calling Wildlife SOS helpline instead of taking matters into their own hands which generally ends in casualty on either side. Our team has highly trained professionals who can deal with situations efficiently." Baiju Raj M.V, Director Conservation Projects for Wildlife SOS said, "Very few snake species in Agra are actually venomous and even these snakes will not attack until provoked or threatened. However, due to their resemblance to cobras, rat snakes are often misidentified as the highly venomous snake and are met with hostility and fear." Around the same time, the NGO rescue unit also responded to another distress call from Maat, Mathura about a female Hog deer being chased by a group of feral dogs in the village. The Hog deer was safely brought to the Wildlife SOS transit facility and after receiving all the required medication it was successfully released back in the wild. /IANS