23 rare snakes — 6 Central Asian cobras and 17 eastern sand boas — were released back into the wild in the Surkhandarya region. This was reported by the information service of the Ministry of Ecology, Environmental Protection and Climate Change.
It was noted that these snakes were illegally kept by citizens, confiscated during a raid, and temporarily handed over to the Tashkent Zoo.
Subsequently, the Zoology Institute of the Academy of Sciences provided a scientific conclusion regarding the natural habitat of these snakes.
As a result, the rare snakes were carefully released into the Kampirtepa, Sherjon, and Sholkon areas of the "Surkhon" State Reserve.
Earlier, cases of illegal snake keeping were also identified in the Tashkent region. Specialists emphasized that the Central Asian cobra is listed in the Red Book and has completely disappeared in some areas. There is no precise data on the natural population of the eastern sand boa.
