Few days back on a snoozy afternoon a gentleman dropped-in at my office, who happens to be a distant cousin of my business partner. Me and my partner had then just finished our meagre lunch, which we ate sumptuously nevertheless, and were hanging on for an odd summery power-nap. That gentleman actually came for a discussion on his investments needs with my partner, who also manages his portfolio. On a gestural note I greeted him with a handshake, followed by a small bit of introduction. That small bit of introduction, blew me away. Never had I been amazed so much while meeting a person, as was getting to know him.
He is Mr. Siddharth Singh, who runs an NGO by the name Snake Awareness Association and Wild Life Rescue Centre, where he is a Director. The NGO has its office at New Panvel, Maharashtra. As the name suggests, Mr. Singh and his NGO dedicatedly works across Maharashtra and also on other parts of India, on rescue and rehabilitation of snakes.
Snakes, as I get to know from him are the most mis-understood creature in the animal kingdom. Since time immemorial snakes are associated with deadly and dangerous antagonists. It is symbolic of evil, be it in Egyptian history, where among others, Cleopatra is believed to have died due to snake induced murder or suicide and in Greek mythology, in which Hercules became a hero by killing Lernaean Hydra, the nine-headed snake. In World War II, Imperial Japan was depicted as evil snake in propaganda posters. In India, snakes are both worshiped as gods and symbolizes vengefulness and vindicativeness as well, in the folklore of "Ichchadhari Nagin", who are mythically believed to possess a valuable gem, "Mani", which is thought to be more brilliant than diamond.
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| Imperial Japan depicted as evil snake in WWII propaganda poster |
According to Siddharth, there had been many incidents of people lured by the greed of "Mani" ended up getting killed by venomous snakes. The other profound reason of snakes being killed is due to lack of awareness. Most people at the sight of a snake, impromptu tries to kill it with a mis-conception that it is poisonous. But the fact is most among the 2900 species snakes are non-venomous. Another reason is the trauma-induced death. People die due to sudden psychological shock of being bit by a snakes, even it been a non-venomous one. Majorly there a four venomous snake species, responsible for causing most human snake bites cases in India : Indian Cobra, Common Krait, Russell's Viper and Saw-scaled Viper. However, a polyvalent serum, that effectively neutralizes the venom of all of the Big Four snakes is widely available in India and is frequently used to save lives.
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| Common Krait |
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| Russell's Viper |
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| Indian Cobra |
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| Ssaw-scaled Viper |
Often snake charmers captures a Cobra and inflicts intense
amount of torture on it by removing fangs or venom glands and even sewing the snake's mouth or paralyzing the jaw muscles. Snakes subject to this practice soon die of starvation or mouth infection. Even though Wildlife Protection Act 1972 technically proscribes snake charming for reduction of animal cruelty, on ground level snake charming is still prevalent in India.
Siddharth argues snakes are actually vital for ecological balance. Rampant killing of snakes has given rise to population of rats and mice, resulting in huge damage of foodgrains. Australia on its mission to eradicate venomous snake ended up rodent overpopulation that was out of control. Siddharth and his NGO runs ambulances for rescuing both injured snakes as well for treating humans affected by snake bites. His visit to Kanpur was primarily to develop a snake park in association authorities of Kanpur Zoological Garden.
Snake venom on the contrary is a cure for various diseases like Cancer, Parkinson's, Heart Attack. And on a lighter note, snakes can be a cute pet even, as elucidated by a close friend of mine on her recent Facebook post.
Snakes can be a cute pet
Snakes can be a cute pet
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