Poisonous viper enters Omar Abdullah's Srinagar home

Security staff at former Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah's residence here had some anxious moments on Saturday as a viper, a poisonous species of snake, was found slithering in the lawns.

Security staff discovered the viper moving in the lawns of Abdullah's high-security Gupkar Road home in Srinagar city.

Officials of the local wildlife department were called in who captured the reptile and relocated it to the Dachigam National Park outside the city.

Abdullah's residence is situated at the foothills of the Zabarwan mountain range near Shankaracharya hill where snakes, bears, partridges and other wildlife species are often spotted.

In fact, the environs around the hill have been declared as a wildlife protected area.

In 2017, a cobra was removed from the official residence of then Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti in the state's winter capital of Jammu. IANS