Agra, Aug 13 (IANS): The Rapid Response Unit of the Wildlife SOS has rescued an Indian rat snake from the head office of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) located on the Mall Road here.

In another incident, two monitor lizards were rescued from the storeroom of a house in Raghuvir Nagar. All the reptiles were later released back into their natural habitat.

An emergency call on the Wildlife SOS 24-hour helpline number alerted its team about a large rat snake, which had fallen in an open water tank inside the ASI head office here on Thursday.

As soon as the incident was reported to the senior officials, they immediately contacted the Wildlife SOS, asking for their assistance.

A two-member rescue team from the wildlife conservation NGO rushed to the location and successfully extricated the distressed snake from the water tank.

Vasant Kumar Swarnkar, Superintending Archaeologist, ASI, Agra, said, "The incident was reported to us by the guard. Since the Wildlife SOS had rescued snakes and other wild animals from the premises before, we called them for help. We are grateful to their team for the swift response."

Kartick Satyanarayan, Co-founder & CEO, Wildlife SOS, said, "We are extremely grateful to the staff at the Archaeological Survey of India for alerting us. Timely intervention helped us save the rat snake. The rat snake is a non-venomous species and is popularly known as 'Dhaman' in northern India. It is often mistakenly believed to be venomous because of its similarity to cobra and for its large size."

Baiju Raj M.V, Director, Conservation Projects, Wildlife SOS, said, "The rat snake was kept under observation for a few hours before being released back into the wild."