SNAKE SMARTS
Indis’a new breed of hunters
The profile of snake hunters in India is changing rapidly, with college-going young people and highly educated professionals taking over the job from semi-literate and illiterate traditional, tribal snake catchers. The reputation of Indians as expert snake-catchers was underlined in July last year when the Sakaerat Environmental Research Station (SERS) in Wang Nam Khieo district of Nakhon Ratchasima in Thailand invited Masi Sadaiyan and Vadivel Gopal from Chennai to catch cobras and other venomous snakes.
The two Irula snake hunters were at the station for less than two weeks and captured 20 snakes of 11 different species within the reserve and adjoining agricultural lands. The researchers at the station, who conduct telemetry studies on venomous snakes to understand their habits and movement patterns, benefitted greatly from the finds.
Mr Masi and Mr Vadivel recently returned from Florida after catching a few dozen Burmese pythons there. The Burmese python, one of the largest snakes in the world, is found in India, Myanmar and other Southeast Asian countries, but Florida has been experiencing a python population boom because some people keep them as pets.
Irula tribesmen from Tamil Nadu, a state in southern India, have been hunting snakes for ages. One of their missions is to collect venom for anti-snake venom (ASV) serum, used in treating snakebites.
Similar snake-hunting expertise is found among the Naths of Rajasthan state, the Sapera, Sapela and Barwa Sampheriya castes of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal, residents of Battis Shirala in Maharashtra state, and other tribal clans from northeastern India.
The difference is that the Saperas and Sapelas hunt snakes to make them dance to their wind instruments during public performances. The residents of Battis Shirala catch snakes to please the local deity on Nag Panchami, a festival when snakes are worshipped across India and Nepal.
GENERATION NEXT
However, the traditional profession of the Irulas and Saperas is slowly being taken over by young, educated professionals from other fields. A large number of such professionals — engineers, civil service aspirants, commerce graduates, environmentalists, zoologists, video editors, veterinarians, legal graduates and even housewives — are either training with Irulas and other snake catchers in Chennai, Delhi and Bengaluru or have already become experts in rescuing snakes from residential areas in big cities.
Nishanth Ravi, 24, a chemical engineer in Chennai, claims to have rescued over 6,500 snakes in the last few years. Authorised by the Chennai Forest Department, he gets five to six calls a day to rescue snakes.
For Mr Ravi, catching snakes is a passion and not a means of earning a livelihood. He earns his daily bread from organising awareness workshops for students about wildlife in general and snakes in particular.
Mr Ravi says he studied chemical engineering because his parents wanted him to get a good degree. But he discovered he also had a passion for saving snakes and other reptiles from the school.
“There was a lake next to my school (Chaitanya Junior College) in Hyderabad. Snakes and turtles would crawl into our hostel building,” he told Asia Focus.
After graduating from Hindustan University in Chennai in 2014, Mr Ravi volunteered with the Madras Crocodile Bank, a trust working under the Central Zoo Authority. He learned snake rescue skills there from herpetologist Gauri Shankar.
Mr Ravi says there are around 15 snake rescuers in Chennai. They include Shravan Krishnan, 26, a college dropout who mostly operates in the East Coast and Old Mahabalipuram Road areas.
In Mumbai and its surrounding areas, there are four non-government organisations — the Wildlife Welfare Association (WWA), Resqink Association for Wildlife Welfare (RAWW), Spreading Awareness on Reptile Rehabilitation Programme (SAARP) and Plant & Animals Welfare Society (PAWS) — working on rescue and rehabilitation of snakes and other wildlife. The first three specialise in venomous, semi-venomous and non-venomous snakes.
Based in Mulund, a suburb in northeastern Mumbai, RAWW has around two dozen members and over a dozen volunteers. These include Pawan Sharma, a mass communications graduate, who is now pursuing a degree in law; Advait Jadhav, who holds a master’s degree in environmental science; Mahesh Ithape, an electrical engineer; Chinmay Joshi, a zoologist; and commerce students Vivek Setia and Pareen Shah. All are under 30 years of age and have made a name for themselves for catching the most venomous of snakes.
Like RAWW, the WWA is presided over by Aditya Patil, a young man who is currently preparing for civil service examinations. The SAARP, according to founder Santosh Shinde, also has in its ranks an environmental studies lecturer, a couple of researchers and a veterinarian. Mr Shinde, a mechanical engineer by training, works with a stock brokerage.
Unlike the traditional snake catchers who use their skills to support their families financially, the new-generation snake rescuers do it out of a sense of adventure and to help maintain ecological balance. “If there are no snakes, the mice would have a free run,” Pawan Sharma points out.
The world-renowned herpetologist Romulus Whitaker, founder of the Madras Snake Park, sees the emergence of these young snake catchers as a sign of increased conservation awareness.
“There is a definitely a growth in snake conservation awareness in India and the ‘rescuers’ are one symptom. Awareness is also spreading to rural areas where snakes are important rodent controllers,” Mr Whitaker told Asia Focus by email.
HAZARDS OF THE TRADE
However, a sense of adventure and showmanship at times leads to fatalities among young snake rescuers. Two young men — Avez Mistry and Somnath Mhatre — were killed in Maharashtra state last month while handling poisonous snakes.
According to Mr Whitaker, India leads the world in deaths due to snakebites with 50,000 people dying every year. Hundreds of these deaths take place because young snake catchers do imprudent things, such as taking selfies with the snakes or handling them unnecessarily.
“There are a bunch of rescuers who just want to get their pictures in the paper or on Facebook doing something utterly stupid and disrespectful to the snake,” he says. “It is extremely dangerous to mess around with a venomous snake and many young men have died in recent years just showing off.”
The Madras Crocodile Bank, also founded by Mr Whitaker, and IndianSnakes, a popular website, have started a major project on snakebite mitigation. It aims to spread awareness about snakes and to make equipment available to facilitate ethical snake rescues.
In Maharashtra, herpetologist Kedar Bhide recently submitted a list of do’s and don’ts for snake rescue to the state’s chief wildlife conservator.
Unlike the new breed of snake catchers who use proper hooks, pipes and cloth bags, traditional snake catchers or hunters use crude sticks and digging instruments to reach their prey.
A law in 1972 in India gave statutory protection to wild animals and banned public performances with them. Snake-charming was banned in 1991 and has declined significantly, but performances still take place on certain occasions by traditional practitioners willing to risk fines.
“There are a bunch of rescuers who just want to get their pictures in the paper or on Facebook doing something utterly stupid and disrespectful to the snake. It is extremely dangerous to mess around with a venomous snake and many young men have died in recent years just showing off” ROMULUS WHITAKER Founder, Madras Snake Park