Why so many ‘snake rescuers' across India get bitten on the job

Indian Express

5 days ago

Deepak Mahawar was a popular snake rescuer from Madhya Pradesh's Guna district who on July 14 was seen riding a bike with a cobra slung around his neck. Although his video went viral on the Internet, the 42-year-old was bitten by the venomous snake. He died that night.
Mahawar's is not an isolated case. Nobody is keeping a count, and only a fraction of stunts gone wrong make it to the media. But with daring acts of irresponsible snake handling in the garb of 'snake rescue' becoming a social media rage over the last decade, hundreds of 'rescuers' have suffered bites, many fatally.
On July 6, 'sarp mitra' J P Yadav died of a cobra bite during a rescue attempt in Bihar's Vaishali. In May, another cobra rescue went wrong in Bihar when 'snake man' Jai Kumar Sahni died in Samastipur.
In March, Santosh Kumar met the same fate in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, close to where another snake rescuer, K Murali, was fatally bitten by a Russel's viper last August. In 2023, Karnataka's 'snake' Naresh was carrying in his scooter's trunk a rescued cobra that killed him.
In this long list of casualties, one of the most telling is the death of 'snake expert' Manish Vaishnav in Rajasthan's Pali in 2021. The 19-year-old died en route to a Jaipur hospital hours after being bitten by a cobra while addressing 'fans' on Facebook Live.
Shortcut to fame, riches
The irrational loathing for snakes — ophidiophobia — common among the masses is matched only by their reverence for snake rescuers (read handlers).
'I am a botanist by training and have worked on tigers for over two decades. But people are most impressed when I turn up for an occasional snake rescue,' said Dharmendra Khandal who runs TigerWatch, a non-profit in Ranthambore.
Unsurprisingly, 'snake stunts' provide a path to instant visibility on social media, enabling influencers to rack up follower counts and as a result, enjoy big payouts.
The biggest such snake influencer in India, Murliwale Hausla from Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh, has a whopping 16 million subscribers on YouTube and 3.6 million followers on Instagram. The mid-range of the spectrum spans from Chhattisgarh's Kamal Choudhary (12 lakh YouTube subscribers) to Karnataka's Snake Hariha (2 lakh YouTube subscribers). Then there are many aspirants vying for the 1-lakh mark.
Jose Louies, chief executive of non-profit Wildlife Trust of India, is censorious of snake rescuers who go to great lengths for financial gains.
'They tease snakes for viewership, even stage rescues. One video, for example, shows cobras (predator) and rat snakes (prey) together in a well. Shifting wild animals like that amounts to hunting under the Wildlife Act,' he told The Indian Express.
Free for all industry
Few states have specific regulations for snake rescue, that is, relocating a snake from a place where it poses a risk to people. Fewer are in a position to enforce those rules since forest officers often rely on volunteers to answer frequent rescue calls.
'There are just too many cases to attend to, particularly during the rainy season. Given our staff strength and the shortage of trained hands, we are forced to rope in private rescuers, knowing very well how some of them would milk those situations,' said a senior forest official in Madhya Pradesh.
In 2018, Maharashtra issued a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for snake rescues, mandating training and documentation. Kerala made certification mandatory for snake rescuers in 2020, followed by Gujarat in 2021, Karnataka in 2022, and Odisha in 2023.
So far, however, only Kerala with its technology-enabled, real-time response system — the SARPA App — has succeeded in keeping a tab on certified rescuers and blacklisting some of the unethical ones. Elsewhere, these rules have made little impact on the ground where self-styled 'rescuers' keep playing with fire.
A high risk job
Even while playing by the book, snake rescue is a high risk job.
Of the four most venomous snakes of India, collectively referred to as the Big Four and responsible for a majority of snakebite deaths in the country, the krait (Bungarus caeruleus) is probably the easiest to handle. Known for its deadly neurotoxins, it can spring the occasional surprise but is usually docile, particularly in the daytime.
The cobra (Naja naja) tends to follow the rescuer's movement, giving a fair indication of where it is headed. Not aggressive unless hassled, the roaring snake is capable of striking from a considerable distance. It usually contracts its hood — a visual cue — before lunging to strike.
Vipers, on the other hand, are often aggressive without much provocation: there is no telling how they might behave.
Lightning fast, the saw-scaled viper (Echis carinatus) is under 3 feet, and has a way of warning an adversary by rubbing parts of its body together, creating a 'sawing' sound.
The muscular Russel's viper (Daboia russelii) can grow to double the length of the saw-scaled viper, and poses the biggest challenge for rescuers. It resembles a mighty helix poised to explode, and can reach up to 1.5 metres in a flash.
Doing it right
A simple snake hook and a pipe-necked sack are the best tools for rescuing a snake. These enable rescuers to lead the creature to a burrow-like opening, relying on its natural tendency to enter a dark space. Ideally, rescuers should not need to touch the animal at any stage. Teasing, displays and stunts with snakes are punishable under the Wildlife Act.
While the availability of anti-venoms have improved, many rescuers bitten by snakes die during treatment. 'Typically, a snake is agitated during a rescue and likely to deliver a higher quantity of venom if it gets an opportunity to bite,' Louise said.
Vivek Sharma, a Jabalpur-based herpetologist, underlined the human cost of recklessness. 'Most of these rescuers are under 40, with limited education, and from a modest background. Many of them are the sole earners in the family, some have young kids. They fail to appreciate the risk they take,' he said.
Given that it is impractical to police thousands of snake rescuers in the field, Khandal has a radical solution: 'A stiff penalty for filming and posting rescue videos will disincentivise the stuntmen and leave only the serious rescuers to do the job. This is a vital service in a country where 40-50,000 people die of snakebite every year.'
Jay Mazoomdaar is an investigative reporter focused on offshore finance, equitable growth, natural resources management and biodiversity conservation. Over two decades, his work has been recognised by the International Press Institute, the Ramnath Goenka Foundation, the Commonwealth Press Union, the Prem Bhatia Memorial Trust, the Asian College of Journalism etc.
Mazoomdaar's major investigations include the extirpation of tigers in Sariska, global offshore probes such as Panama Papers, Robert Vadra's land deals in Rajasthan, India's dubious forest cover data, Vyapam deaths in Madhya Pradesh, mega projects flouting clearance conditions, Nitin Gadkari's link to e-rickshaws, India shifting stand on ivory ban to fly in African cheetahs, the loss of indigenous cow breeds, the hydel rush in Arunachal Pradesh, land mafias inside Corbett, the JDY financial inclusion scheme, an iron ore heist in Odisha, highways expansion through the Kanha-Pench landscape etc. ... Read More