Poisonous snakes crawling into Birobijan houses

With cold weather setting in, poisonous snakes start crawling into Birobijan houses (Jewish autonomous region in Russia's Far East). In October the Main Department for Civil Defence and Emergency Situations of the Jewish autonomous region has reported four cases of vipers invading houses.

On Tuesday, a resident of a five-storey apartment house discovered a snake by the door. A rescue group called to the scene caught it and took it into the woods.

According to the head of the search and rescue group of the regional Department for emergency situations, Dmitry Karamyshev, snakes have never been reported to behave this way. Herpetologists give the following explanation: snakes failed to accumulate "energy resource" necessary for winter and headed on to residential areas in search of mice.

By means of mass media, rescuers warned residents of the autonomous region against the possible threat and are ready to come to people's rescue at first notice.