Kannur: It's not the usual suspects like tiger, leopard or elephant which are spreading scare in a quiet village named Kayaralam Motta in Mayyil Panchayat in Kannur.

The villagers are dealing with snakes almost on a daily basis. They find it coiled around the branches of sapota trees, slithering over garden pots, making their way across the road at junctions and even near buckets placed on the frontyard of houses.

The recurring presence of snakes has triggered fear to such an extent that parents are reluctant to send children outside to play. Although no death has been reported here due to snake bite in recent times, the villagers are a worried lot. They are clueless about the reasons for sudden increase in snake sightings.

Pythons are the most common snakes found in the area and venomous snakes like vipers and cobras are also being spotted. There are instances when the locals have captured up to ten snakes from a house.

"I have been living here for the last 14 years. There are days when we spotted 5-6 snakes and the people are living in extreme fear. We do not know how to deal with this and the authorities have not yet provided a permanent solution. The snakes are even visible in the town frequently and the locals captured a snake from a shop a couple of days ago,'' said E K Madhu, a local resident.

Madhu said that there were many peacocks in the region earlier and the decline in the number of peacocks resulted in the sudden growth of snakes.

They have identified vacant plots which have become the habitat of snakes. Though the nearby premises are surrounded by walls, the snakes enter through the trees leaning towards the compound.

"The people in the area live in fear of snakes. They have informed the issue to the panchayat and we have decided to clean the bushes in the area,'' Ravi Manikkoth, the panchayat member said.