Serpentine struggles: Why the tricky task of snake rescuing still attracts some Mumbaikars

Aman Singh was 14 when he was captivated by the adventurous rescues performed by wildlife experts on the Discovery Channel and Animal Planet. Residing in Thane's Lokmanya Nagar, which is in close to the Sanjay Gandhi National Park area, regular encounters with snakes during his teenage years further fostered his interest in wildlife and their behaviour. After multiple attempts at rescuing snakes and feeding the injured ones at home as an amateur, he decided to get trained and became a professional wildlife rescuer at just 18 years of age.

"I started by self-learning about techniques such as head catching a snake, among other things, and practiced that in real life. I was passionate but I realised there were many things I did wrong in terms of rescue operations," says Singh, who joined Resqink Association for Wildlife Welfare (RAWW) in 2018 and soon carried out his first snake rescue operation as a trained professional. Covering Thane, Bhiwandi, Dombivli and the hilly areas of Yeoor, Singh, now 22 years old, attends to approximately 20 to 25 rescue calls a month during winters, and over 90 and 40 calls in the monsoon and summer seasons respectively.

In January 2022, Vava Suresh, a 48-year-old popular snake catcher from Kerala was hospitalised after being bitten by a cobra during a rescue operation. Suresh, who has rescued over 60,000 snakes until now and has been hospitalised after snake bites multiple times, was discharged last week. However, he has been facing criticism for not using scientific gear while catching snakes.

Singh, as someone who has interacted with the ‘Big Four' - the four venomous snakes found in India and in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, that is the Russell's Viper, Common Krait, Saw-Scaled Vipers and the Spectacle Cobra - observes that "no snake is dangerous, they are venomous". He brings to attention the risks associated with this job and the consequences of catching a reptile without the requisite knowledge and training.

Aman Singh rescuing a Spectacled Cobra in Thane. Image courtesy: Aman Singh

Risks and challenges involved

Singh says he has been bitten several times by non-venomous snakes, which are not deadly but may cause infections. According to him, handling a snake after the capture requires utmost care and attention as every snake behaves differently and has varied levels of aggressiveness. As a warning sign to humans, some snakes make sounds to express their discomfort.

Vaishali Chawhan, who has been a rescuer for over a decade now, says, "In Palghar, if you are accidentally bitten by a snake, reaching the nearest hospital takes two hours, which is a crucial period after infection. There are no experts or necessary infrastructure here. So definitely we are risking our lives."

Chawhan, who is a Palghar resident, began training in 2010 and is now working as a wildlife warden for the district under the Maharashtra Forest Department and is also associated with RAWW. According to the 46-year-old, her team gets 60 to 90 calls a month regarding snake sightings in Palghar. In order to be prepared for worst-case scenarios, she ensures to preserve at least 25 vials of anti-snake venom at any given point of time for her 40-member team. Her husband, who is a doctor, has now trained himself to treat snake bite patients too to provide immediate treatment in case of adversities.

In addition to snake bites, rescuers say humans too pose a number of challenges to their field work. "Rescuing the snake is not challenging for us, but handling the crowd is very challenging," says Singh. "Some people get too excited and want to shoot videos, which can threaten the snake and us too. There are times when people collapse just due to fear and a misconception that every snake is venomous, and we have to rush them to the hospital." Fake rescue calls and treating every sighting as a threat are some of the other challenges of working as a wildlife rescuer and conservationist.

Vaishali Chawhan with a Spectacled Cobra at Ghodbunder (left) and with a Cobra in a clinic at Sanjay Gandhi National park (right). Image courtesy: Vaishali Chawhan

According to the guidelines prescribed by the state forest department in 2018 for snake rescue and release in Maharashtra, not every snake sighted needs to be rescued. The catchers are trained in assessing whether the snake needs to be rescued. A rescue is needed when the snake is in conflict and if there is a danger to its life and to the people around. Sometimes, mere sightings of the snake trigger panic, hence, the rescuers have to carefully observe the movement of the snake before rescuing. The location of release also depends on whether the snake is venomous or not. The guidelines also mention the procedures to be followed after rescue with respect to providing medical treatment to the snake if required and identifying the location and time of the release into the wild.

"There are times when people called us under the pretext of sighting a snake and made us shift all their furniture. There was no snake at all. Sometimes we conduct a search for 3-4 hours, while we had already lost the snake because of the panic and distraction," says Singh.

As a female rescuer, Chawhan often faces sexist remarks such as "are you sure you can do it?" and "what if you get scared and run away?" from people who are in disbelief. "Once they see me rescuing the snake, they are shocked and then the kind of appreciation I receive is something a male rescuer never gets," she says.

Addressing people's misinformation and illusions about reptiles during rescue operations sometimes can result in dangerous confrontations with people who wish to keep the reptile with them for consumption or trade purposes. People wish to keep the reptile after rescue due to misinformation regarding medicinal benefits from consumption of certain reptiles. There are superstitions associated with snakes, which further encourages illegal trade, for example, Sand boas are believed to bring immense luck to those who possess it and are used in black magic processes too. In such cases, rescuers are required to explain to people about the endangered species of snakes and the consequences of using them for personal benefits.

"There are times when people turn violent about their demand to keep the reptile for their selfish motives and it poses a risk to our lives, especially if it is night time and if we are in a remote place. I have to devise quick strategies to escape from such a situation," says Singh.

No remuneration and the need for policy intervention

"It's like social work and we are doing it voluntarily - as a hobby. If we ask for charges, there are chances people will not call us next time and end up killing the snake. This will beat the purpose of our work," says Singh, who is currently pursuing a Master's degree in Computer Science.

While Singh and other rescuers receive basic rescue gear such as first aid kits, shoes, headlights, snake catching hooks, bags, field guide books and reimbursement for petrol charges from the organisation, there's hardly any monthly compensation provided for their work from the municipal corporations or the forest department.

In the event of accidents, injuries and snake bites, Chawhan says, rescuers are provided monetary support for blood tests, medicines and other medical procedures. "What I have observed all these years is that we don't get anything from the government. Sometimes hospitals don't ask us for money out of goodwill," adds Singh.

In the absence of official data on the number of snake rescuers in the city and policy recognising the work of wildlife rescuers in India, there is little scope for regular compensation and security to those working on field in different parts of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. According to Pawan Sharma, a wildlife rescuer and founder of RAWW, the state forest department and other state agencies are understaffed to respond to all calls in a day and are entirely dependent on sarp mitras (term used for people volunteering for rescuing snakes in Maharashtra) and other organisations, involved in wildlife conservation, for rescue operations.

Common Krait , considered to be on the 'Big four' venomous snakes found in India. Image credit: Aman Singh

Sharma highlights that the criteria for compensation are yet to be defined and this has to be done on the basis of recognition of snake rescuers. As there is no official evaluation of the work done by snake rescuers, there has been an increase in the cases of private capturing or catching, undertaken without intimating the forest department, despite such acts being in violation of the WPA, 1972.

"Charging for such services as a private individual is also a violation of the Income Tax Act. As an individual or organisation, one can only appeal for funds and not demand money. It is important to define ‘rescuing' clearly to deal with unnecessary capture, trapping, hoarding and handling. There are multiple loopholes and complications which have to be addressed," says Sharma.

While the 2018 guidelines laid out a procedure for registering, issuing ID cards to rescuers and maintaining a database of rescue operations undertaken, it is yet to be implemented as a policy.

"It is not yet a profession. Animal rescue is still considered a community-based social activity in India and it will take a considerable amount of time to transform it into an organised profession. At the same time, there are no training institutions providing proper training or certification in recognition of the work," says Sharma adding that the RAWW team is currently working on an insurance plan for the team members along with policy-based frameworks with the state agencies.

Encounters with reptiles in Mumbai

According to a study published in Clinical Epidemiology and Global Health, in the year 2017-18 and 2018-2019, an estimated number of 2,00,492 and 2,30,950 people were envenomed due to snake bites in India. Maharashtra, with 32.4 persons per 100,000 population getting snake bites in 2017-18, showed higher prevalence of such incidents.

The number increased to 35 persons per one lakh population in 2018-19. Palghar, Thane, Kolhapur, Pune, Ratnagiri and Jalgaon districts are among the 14 districts in Maharashtra, which frequently report snake bite incidents due to forest cover and healthy monsoons, among other factors, providing a favourable habitat for the survival of different species of snakes.

Sharma and Singh receive rescue calls from urban slum areas, residential complexes, companies and shopping arenas in Thane, Bandra, Churchgate, Marine Drive and along the Bandra-Worli sea link, among other locations. Accumulation of edible waste, large number of rodents, frogs, which the snakes prey upon coupled with less number of predators provide favourable conditions for the reptiles to grow in the crowded areas of the city. The sewage system with large underground pipes running across the length and breadth of the city also wash away reptiles during heavy rains, from high altitude to low-lying areas, which are then spotted in enclosed spaces such as drains and other pipelines. The only major challenge to the snakes entering city spaces is human action, which is often aimed at killing the wildlife upon sighting.

Pawan Sharma with a Red Sand Boa, which was seized in a illegal wildlife trade. Image courtesy: Pawan Sharma

"I have never come across a case where a snake has attacked a human deliberately. It's always human actions that provoke them. It is sometimes hard to convince the urban educated to cooperate with us, whereas in tribal areas people are more sensitive and cooperative when it comes to reporting such sightings for rescue. As instructed, they quickly click a photo of the reptile for reporting or leave it at peace if there's no danger," says Singh adding that around Thane and Mumbai, majority of the snakes found are non-venomous, but lack of awareness among people makes them treat every snake as venomous, thus intensifying the fear and panic.

Sharma stresses on the crucial difference between rescuing and handling a reptile. Ethical practices involve identifying the snake, catching it safely, handling it in a manner that there's no risk to the snake or the people around and following the procedures prescribed, without disturbing the reptile. In addition to fear, panic and superstitious beliefs, unethical practices involve catching the snake for showmanship, organising fake rescue operations for YouTube and social media, re-instilling dangerous social beliefs. These often cause snake bite incidents and end up endangering the snakes' life.

"One of the major problems is when untrained people try to catch snakes for undesirable motives. Accidents can take place, but the majority of them happen when people are unskilled and untrained to handle different species of snakes, which behave differently. Rescuers have to be responsible, respectful and sensitive towards the wildlife. It all majorly depends on the mindset of the individual carrying out the operation," says Sharma.