Friends of snakes! How can one be friends with snakes, you ask? Snakes are natural predators of rodents that are responsible for the destruction of 1/3 of the annual crops, and since our economy is largely an agricultural one, snakes effectively prey on rodents and help control their population, and therefore are a vital part of our ecosystem.
As a non-governmental organization, some of the main tasks of the Friends of Snakes Society include spreading awareness about these gravely misunderstood creatures, eradicating age old myths and misconceptions about them through live demonstrations, rescuing snakes from urban areas and rehabilitating them in reserve forest areas and attempting to generate a system of alternate, natural pest control using non venomous snakes in farming. They regularly conduct educational demonstrations in schools, public and private institutions, community centers, and children camps etc., organised by the Andhra Pradesh Forest Dept. under the eco-tourism program.
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Friends Of Snakes Society
K.Rajkumar (Founder, General Secretary)
Plot no: 116, Saipuri colony,
Sainikpuri P.O, Secunderabad-500094
Ph: 091-96420-68557 & 091-92462-76253(SNAKE)
email: friendsofsnakesclub@gmail.com
Website:
http://www.friendsofsnakes.org
"Email us & join now!" |
Their chief objectives include:
1. Conservation and protection snakes.
2. Education and awareness generation of snakes eradicating myths & misconceptions about them. Snake bite information & effective remedies and proper treatment procedures.
3. Establishment of a snake conservation center which will be part of the upcoming Herpeto-Park in Hyderabad.
4. Research and development studies pertaining to snakes of India.
5. Cease snake skin trade and end poaching.
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| Venomous Snakes in Andhra Pradesh |
| Big Four Venomous Snakes: |
Common Cobra |
Common Krait |
Russell's Viper |
Saw-Scaled Viper | | |
| Other Venomous Snakes: |
King Cobra |
Bamboo Pit Viper | 
Banded Krait |
Sea Snake |
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| Non-Venomous Snakes in Andhra Pradesh |
Common Worm Snake |
Indian Rock Python |
Common Sand Boa |
Red Sand Boa |
Common Wolf Snake |
Barred Wolf Snake |
Banded Kukri Snake |
Striped Kukri Snake |
Buffed Striped Keelback Snake |
Green Keelback Snake |
Checkered Keelback Snake |
Olive Keelback Snake |
Trinket Snake |
Rat Snake |
Banded Racer Snake |
Bronzeback Tree Snake |
Green Vine Snake |
Common Cat Snake |
Dumeril's Blackheaded Snake |
Dogfaced Water Snake |
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'Naag Panchami'... Say "No" to barbarity in the name of religion.
The Myth: On the fifth day of Shravan in July-August every year, millions of devotees in India celebrate “Naag Panchami” or the festival of snakes. This unique festival is dedicated to honour the 'Serpent God' or 'Naag Devta'.
According to legend/folklore, long ago in the city of Manikapuri, a farmer while ploughing his field, accidentally ran his plough through the young ones of a Cobra killing them all. The Nagin (mother cobra) returned to find her young ones dead, and enraged, she followed the farmer. When she found the blood of her young ones on the plough, she killed the farmer and his family members while they were asleep. Unsatisfied yet, she decided to wipe out every trace of his family. She traveled to the next village and found the farmer’s daughter. The girl had just completed her worship to the ‘Naga Devta’ or Serpent God and seeing her devotion, the Nagin was moved and gave her some nectar that was to be sprinkled on the girl’s family to bring them back to life.
From that day onwards, women all over the country, celebrate “Naag Panchami” to seek protection for their families. On this day, tilling of land, digging or ploughing is forbidden.
The Tradition: In olden days, during “Naag Panchami” women would go to termite mounds and make an offering of milk, eggs and sweets, pray and quietly return home contended. Today with urbanization, termite mounds are seldom found therefore we have snake charmers bringing the ‘Naag Devta’ to our very abode. We still follow the rituals of offering milk, eggs and money, which we think is going to invoke blessings from the half alive ‘Naagas’ or Cobras brought to our midst by snake charmers but are completely oblivious to what barbarity the snakes face prior to that day!
The Truth: The fact of the matter is that a month prior to this festival, snake charmers all over India, collect cobras and keep them in small earthen pots or wicker/bamboo baskets where they wait silently for their eventual death. The fangs of these captured ‘Naag Devtas’ are brutally scraped off or removed with knives and sickles causing utmost agony to them. As if that was not barbaric enough, they are starved, deprived of food and even water until the festival, by which time they are completely dehydrated.
Snakes can survive without food for up to 2 months. This doesn’t mean that given a choice, they would not eat. They normally eat about once in 4 or 5 days and they, like us, require an adequate supply of water to stay healthy.
On the D-day, the half dead cobras are paraded and taken from house to house to be worshiped. Misconceptions are reawakened as the severely dehydrated cobras hesitantly sip the milk, which is the only possible fluid they get at the present time, in desperation to re-hydrate themselves. Snakes are not mammals but reptiles, and milk is alien to them and is not a part of their natural diet. They do not have the capacity in their stomach to break down the lactose in milk. Given a choice, they would rather drink water instead of milk. Sadly, even while they are worshiped, they are starved.
After being paraded half dead and poked at endlessly to amuse ignorant devotees all day on “Naag Panchami”, the revered yet helpless cobras await the most gruesome, barbaric and inhumane event fated the next day. The snake charmers, having amassed a large number of snakes for the festival and having made money using them, now move on to literally strip them off the last strand of life. They remove their skin and make money off it too. Skinning, mind you, is done when the snake is still alive to facilitate easy removal. The skinned, writhing, mangled and mutilated creature is thrown away into bushes usually where it remains alive for a few more hours in silent, unbearable, unspeakable agony with ants and other insects eating it. The once magnificent, royal creature now cannot even move as it needs its scales on the skin, which was earlier removed, to do so. Having been worshipped, yet tortured and killed, the ‘Naag Devtas’ die a very long and painful death.
Your Support: The FOSC sincerely appeal to all responsible citizens of our country to please keep this sad and cruel event in mind this year and not encourage blind faith or greedy snake charmers that cause such misery, pain and suffering leading to the inevitable mass death of snakes year after year.
Do not be fooled by snake stones, charms and herbs sold by the snake charmers as this claptrap rubbish will not help you in the event of a venomous snake bite. The only life saver for a venomous snakebite is the administration of poly-valent anti-venom by a medical practitioner at the earliest.
Due to mass murder of snakes, such as during this time, more than 175 million tons of food grain is being destroyed by rodents whose natural predators are snakes. The loss can be summed up to approximately Rs 10,000 crore annually.
Worship snakes if you must but in a way that is genuine, with love and respect not blindness, pain, cruelty and barbarity where you would even indirectly stain your hands with their innocent blood.
Please contact us if you:
* need more information regarding snakes, snake bite, treatment
* want to fight against this cruelty
* see any snake charmers during the ‘Naag Panchami’ festival in your area
Friends Of Snakes Society
Plot no: 116, Saipuri colony,
Sainikpuri P.O, Secunderabad-500094
Ph: 091-96420-68557 & 091-92462-76253(SNAKE)
email: friendsofsnakesclub@gmail.com
Website:
http://www.friendsofsnakes.org
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Snake Facts
1. India is home to about 275 different species of snakes. About 181 non-venomous and about 94 of them technically venomous. About 34 of these venomous snakes do not have venom potent enough to kill a human being and by and large are considered harmless. About 20 of the rest are sea snakes that have high venom toxicity but since they live mostly in the sea, they are not a potential threat. 36 of the dangerously venomous snakes are rare, therefore human casualties from them are by far ruled out. There are only 4 potentially dangerous snakes that venture into human habitation and they are referred to as the Big Four. If we can correctly identify these, confrontation in most cases can be avoided. Cobra, Krait, Russell's Viper, and Saw Scaled Viper.
2. Snakes don't take revenge. We often hear myths like "if the snake escapes from human attack, then it takes revenge or if we kill a male snake then the female can take revenge or vice-versa". The fact is that there is no snake in the world that takes revenge. Snakes have a primitive brain and a weak memory, therefore, they cannot keep in mind any event or any person in particular. The event of a snake appearing at a place where another snake was killed could be rationally explained. Normally when a snake slithers into human habitation, fear eventually makes the human kill it. During the duel between the human and snake, the excited snake releases a musk. Musk is developed in the cloacal glands at the base of their tails. This malodorous secretion is emitted if the snake is disturbed or captured, both within and outside the breeding season. This invisible scent may remain on our clothes and another cruising snake may pick this scent up and follow it's trail. This could have led to the making of this myth.
3. Snakes do not enjoy music nor dance to the tune of the charmer. Snakes lack ears and do not have any hearing or acoustic organ in its body and are deaf to airborne vibrations. When the charmer plays his 'been' or 'musical instrument', he normally moves it around. The snake in fact, gives a defensive response to this by trying to keep the moving object in strike range as they associate moving objects to danger. They do not respond to the music played on the charmer's 'been'. They would respond similarly even to a cloth moved in air.
4. Snakes do not possess a 'Naagmani' or 'Diamond' that they make nor carry it on their head when they get old. A diamond is a carbon compound and the formation of natural diamond requires very specific conditions. It requires exposure of carbon-bearing materials to high pressure, ranging approximately between 45 and 60 kilobars, but at a comparatively low temperature range between approximately 1652–2372 °F (900–1300 °C). These conditions are known to be met in two places on Earth; in the Lithospheric mantle below relatively stable continental plates and at the site of a meteorite strike.
No living being is capable of creating them from their bodies and snakes are no exceptions. Hypothetically, if snakes were to produce them, charmers would be rich and would go around in swanky Porsches, Ferraris or Lamborghinis, not barefoot.
5. Snakes are very efficient rodent controllers and eat up to 3 rats or mice per week. If left to breed, these rodents can multiply to about 1,00,000 per annum.
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Snake Trivia
1. The largest snake in the world is the Anaconda found in South America and can weigh up to 50 Kgs!
2. The longest snake in the world is the Reticulated Python found in India & South East Asia and can grow up to 33 feet in length!
3. The smallest Snake in the world is the Barbados Threadsnake found in the Caribbean Islands, Africa, and Asia and grows up to a maximum length of about 10 centimeters (4 inches long, about the size of a toothpick).
4. The fastest land snake in the world is the Black Mamba found in Africa and can reach speeds of about 10-12 mph (19 kmph)!
5. The most venomous snake in the world is the Inland Taipain or the Fierce Snake found in Australia and has venom that is 50 times more toxic than most rattlesnakes and 200 - 400 times more toxic than a cobra!
6. The largest venomous snake in the world is the King Cobra found in India & South East Asia and can grow up to lengths of 22 feet!
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Snake Bite?
No accurate study has ever been conducted to determine the frequency of snakebites on the international level.
For a fact, most snakebites are caused by non-venomous snakes and casualties are mainly due to shock resulting in a cardiac arrest.
Of the roughly 3,000 known species of snake found worldwide, only 15 percent are considered dangerous to humans.
Snakes are most likely to bite when they feel threatened, startled, provoked, and/or have no means of escape when cornered.
So does a snake bite in offense or defense?
The question we all ask ourselves and are often misled. Snake bites normally happen only when the snake feels the need to protect itself...it does so in defence. Snakes predominantly use their venom to capture prey, but when push comes to shove, venom can mean the difference between life and death.
Snake defence is rather limited when one thinks about it. They can't outrun their predators, a lack of limbs means that gaining the leverage for tail whipping is rather impossible. Some snakes can secrete nasty substances that make them unwanted to be around. Others feign their own deaths, but in general the best area of defence for snakes lies in their jaws.
For a venomous snake, biting a predator means wasting precious venom...a commodity that doesn't come without it's price. Venom costs energy to make and takes a while to refill when empty. A snake would much rather save that venom for something worth it like food, so it takes quite a bit of pressing to get a venomous snake to actually bite. In fact it is for these reasons that venomous snakes have adopted so many warning strategies. From warning colours to hoods, audible displays and rattles, venomous snakes do everything in their power to avoid biting the enemy.
In contrast a boid or other constrictor will readily bite in defense. While they lack venom, recurved teeth can be just as bad and since constrictors don't have to worry about wasting venom they can feel free to bite all they want.
Along with warning well in advance, another common thing found in venomous snakes (especially viperids) is giving what is known as a "dry bite".
Dry bites occur when a snake is cornered and forced to bite in defense. While the snake might be in last resort mode, it still has one more trick up it's sleeve. Venomous snakes (true venomous snakes) have the ability to choose whether or not they want to inject venom into something. So if a viper bites a dog, it has the choice of either envenoming or bluffing the animal. In nature, bluffs work much of the time and are the safest way for an animal to avoid a fight. By giving off a dry bite, venomous snakes need not waste their venom supplies.
Symptoms:
The most common symptoms of all snakebites are panic, fear and emotional instability, which may cause symptoms such as nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, vertigo, fainting, tachycardia, and cold, clammy skin. Most snakebites, whether by a venomous snake or not, will have some type of local effect. Usually there is minor pain and redness, but this varies depending on the site. Bites by vipers and some cobras may be extremely painful, with the local tissue sometimes becoming tender and severely swollen within 5 minutes. This area may also bleed and blister.
What to do in case of a snake bite?
1. Never panic. When and if the patient panics, the heart beats faster and blood circulation is rapid. In case of a venomous bite, this would result in the venom spreading quickly.
2. Protect the patient (and others, including yourself) from further bites. Do not risk further bites or delay proper medical treatment by attempting to capture or kill the snake. If the snake has not already fled, carefully remove the patient from the immediate area
3. Tie a ligature* above the area of the bite in that part of the body where there is a single bone. eg: If the bite is on the leg, tie the ligature above the knee. If the bite is on the hand, tie it on the upper arm.
*a ligature can be anything from a rope to a tie, long piece of cloth, lace, ribbon etc.
4. Make sure you loosen the ligature every 10-15 minutes on your way to the hospital for a duration of approximately a minute.
5. If there is any water handy, wash the infected/bitten area and squeeze from above the bite towards it 4 to 5 times.
6. Keep the patient calm and call for help to arrange for transport to the nearest hospital emergency room, where anti venom for snakes common to the area will often be available.
7. Do not give the patient anything to eat or drink. This is especially important with consumable alcohol, a known vasodilator which will speed-up the absorption of venom. Do not administer stimulants or pain medications to the victim, unless specifically directed to do so by a physician.
8. Remove any jewelery or clothing which may constrict the bitten limb if it swells.
9. Keep the patient as still as possible.
10. Rush to the nearest hospital and have poly valent anti-venom administered by a Doctor only.
11. If you have any doubt about the identification of the snake or if you don't know which snake bite you, follow the first aid steps correctly and rush to the hospital. The Doctors will be able to determine if or if not your bite needs treatment or not.
12. First Aid must under any circumstance be done within the first 10 minutes of the bite. Whatever first aid done after the first 15 minutes is technically of no use.
Don't Ever:
1. Don't ever cut or open up the wound thinking it would help as it opens up more tissue and nerve endings for the venom to travel faster, not to mention the additional pain you would cause to the patient.
2. Don't ever try sucking out the venom from the bitten area as shown in movies. Sucking it out orally is not a solution at all since all of us brush our teeth daily, we bear microscopic lacerations on our gums and whilst we try to suck out the venom, we end up infecting ourselves and instead of one victim, you would end up having two.
3. Don't ever go seek help from a seer, charmer or quack. Most people who claim to cure snake bite with magic, magical stones and herbs are false. There is no magical or herbal treatment to snake bite. Their treatments work in the case of non venomous bites. Some people further claim that venomous snake bites were also cured this way. The fact of the matter is that most of those bites could have been dry bites and when there is no real envenomation, any cure is possible.
4. Don't ever administer poly-valent anti-venom on your own. Poly-valent anti-venom serum is to be administered only by a Doctor as it has to be administered with saline and may sometimes have allergic reactions to certain people and it has to be tested first before being administered. This task is best handled by an experienced doctor.
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