No one can have just one…

If my friends think that one is bad enough, I’m inflicting two more on them. These are my not pet peeves, favours or even my children, but my blogs…

I can hear the groans, but what was I to do. I wanted to document my Nature Club Activity and also all I have learnt about the CME Lake. But the readers of a generic blog would find the list of taxa found in our wetlands taxing to say the least. Likewise, the doings of our little folk to the nth degree can only be of interest to the young ones or their parents, hence the two new blogs …

The Painted Stork Nature Club

&

The Living Lakes

While nothing much has been placed as yet, I hope these will prove as valuable adjuncts to this blog.

"The Painted Stork" blog

"The Living Lakes" blog

Crafting India’s Landscapes!

(An extreme view of tree plantation & a small example of practice)

Its that time of the year when civic and nature organisations in India wake up from their slumber and begin to consider tree-planting yet again. Though this is an annual affair, strangely India’s forest cover and biomass doesn’t seem to improve even where these activities are being carried out.

Typically, tree plantation begins with the collection of whatever dismal fare in saplings the forest department is willing to provide, followed by the desultory digging of holes and careless planting of trees. This activity, concluded in a couple of days in the early monsoon, will be followed by a relapse into torpor.  The final act is, of course, the appearance of a plague of self-publicised reports in the papers.

School-children plant trees as they take part in a "One day - One lakh plantation programme" on the outskirts of Hyderabad. Is this the way we should plant trees? (Click image to read more)

Over the next few months though, the thousands of saplings, thoughtlessly planted, are exposed to the harsh Indian environment accompanied by the complete neglect by the tree-planters.  The subsequent perishing of the year’s plantation by the end of the next summer (except for the miniscule few which by God’s grace actually manage to survive) should come as no surprise. And in the hallowed traditions of Hindu religious ideology, the kaal-chakra turns to bring us back to tree-planting season again. Paradoxically, all of us feel good having participated in a worthwhile activity even though it is conducted so abominably.

Not all tree-planting is conducted this way. People plant carefully selected saplings to enhance their gardens and backyards. Some corporates do succeed in giving strikingly good tree-scapes and gardens to their campuses. Children all over carry out this activity with the single-minded intensity of play. To them it is something well worth doing. A few civic organisations do exceptionally fine jobs of restoring plant cover and biodiversity to their favourite haunts. But these are a drop in the ocean when compared to the morass of carelessly contrived tree-plantation schemes in our country. Not convinced by my assertion? Please see the text box below :

Unhealthy trends in tree plantation

• This tender gives no guidance whatsoever on the type of flora to be planted.
• Countries compete and are ranked.
• Pakistan feels good because it has “beaten” India. Heights of patriotism, won’t you agree?

I am sure you would have your own “war stories” to tell.

Its not that we are cultural “philistines” as far as trees and plants are concerned.

The Pipal or Bo tree (ficus religiosa) (Image: Eric Guinther)

Hindu culture gives trees (or plants) an importance of their own. Planting a tree is said to be more fruitful than having a hundred sons. A number of trees figure in our pantheon of objects worthy of worship – the Peepul Tree (Ficus religiosa) and Banyan (Ficus benghalensis) come immediately to mind. The Kalpavrisksh which fulfils the wishes of all, the Bo tree under which the Buddha gained enlightenment, the Aak (Calotropis spp) tree under which Emperor Akbar was born are some examples of trees in our culture. Fragrant flowers are offered to our Gods in obeisance. Certain plants are associated with our deities – the “krishna” and “laxmi” varieties of Tulasi (Ocimum sanctum) and the Lord Dattatreya’s fondness for the Umbar or Audumbar (Ficus racemosa) spring to mind.

Kalpataru, the divine tree of life. The wish-fulfilling bountiful tree is guarded by mythical creatures Kinnara and Kinnar. This bas-relief is the adorned wall of Pawon temple, an 8th century small shrine between Borobudur and Mendut temple, Java, Indonesia.

Above image by Gunkarta. Source : Wikipedia.

Yet, we tend to approach tree-plantation with less finesse than a three year old child.

Perhaps it is semantics.  The term “tree plantation” implies that our job is just to plant – it’s nature’s business to do the rest. The truth is, if we want to really make a difference, the business we should be in is “growing trees” not “planting trees”.  That implies a whole lot more than partial burial of an juvenile plant in unprepared ground. The successful planting and growing of trees is not a rapid paced activity but takes an enormous amount of time and effort. Accordingly, there is a need for  thinking deliberately, planning and careful preparation before we get down to the plantation which is just one event in the long process of growing trees.

Maybe the  reason is selfishness. In this materialistic world, there is nothing to be gained by labouring for unborn generations. In such a view point, tree plantation would be meritorious only as a means for acclaim (for publicity and public adulation), getting rich (through corruption or by marketing one’s products) or as an indicator of performance (X planted more trees in his tenure than Y).

"Monocultures are ecological deserts. Tree plantations are not forests." (click image to learn more).

Another malaise in tree-plantation is mono-culture. It could be that most people do not realise that the planting trees of a single species, termed as mono-culture, is harmful. But the gaurdians of Indian forests should know. Invasive trees take away more from our environment than their successful propagation. Yet it is the bureaucratic forces which have championed the cause of ecologically harmful  exotic trees which grow quickly  –  such as Australian Acacia (Acacia auriculiformis), Kubabul (Leucaena leucocephala) or the various forms of Eucalyptus – or even worse, the highly poisonous Jatropha curcas, purportedly for “bio-diesel”.

Jatropha curcas, the Physic Nut tree, is a poisonous, semi-evergreen shrub or small tree. Useful for biodiesel, it is ecologically useless. (Image: R.K.Henning, http://www.jatropha.org, CC-BY-SA 2.5)

It is the banal attitude towards tree plantation which reduces such a worthy activity to a pedestrian one that irks me greatly.

The highest form of appreciating nature is in growing exotic trees - Alexander von Humboldt. (Public domain image)

A great scientist of the nineteenth century, Alexander von Humboldt stated that the highest form of nature worship was engaging in one or all of the following :

• Writing Nature poetry.
• Painting landscapes.
• The rearing and planting of exotic trees.

I find that I agree broadly with Humboldt. This blog showcases some of the finest nature poetry. You can read about Frederic Edwin Church and his “Heart of the Andes” over here. I agree that growing of plants is a really worthy activity but I would replace the word “exotic” with the adjective “right”.

As far as growing trees is concerned, my own humble opinion can be summed up as :

Tree-planting is a craft. We should be “tree-smiths” – carefully crafting the environment in the manner that we make a Japanese garden, with each tree carefully chosen for effect, harmony, utility, importance, i.e. for a purpose. Growing trees is not meant to be hedonistic or banal. It must be done spiritually – a kind of zen activity.  It must be done to completeness. And the result must be healthy trees that give us the benefits we hoped for and more.

For that, we really need to know and love our trees. I love to recall the feel of the bark and leaves of the Banyan, the smell of flowers of the Neem (Azadiractha indica) or the crushed leaves of the Kadi Patta (Murraya koenigii) , the visual extravaganza that the Laburnum (Cassia fistula) provides in summer. Once we get a feeling of love and appreciation of trees, then and then alone can we make quality choices about the best or most appropriate shrub or tree to be chosen for a spot.

Umbar or Audumbar (Ficus racemosa) - one of the trees best suited for biodiversity. (Image : Dinesh Valke, CC-by-NC-ND)

If you want to attract birds, the Umber or wild fig (Ficus racemosa) is your best bet. If you want a red avenue in summer, it’s the exotic Gulmohar (Delonix regia) you need to choose. For lots of shade with few trees, opt for the Rain tree (Albizia saman).  You can never go wrong by planting Babul (Acacia nilotica) for the welfare of the poorest of the poor – it’s firewood has the highest calorific value.

Babul has the highest calorific value of Indian trees and is consequently of great importance to the common man. (Image credit : Dinesh Valke, under CC-BY-NC-ND)

On the other hand, if you don’t do the learning yourself and rely on the “experts”, expect to find that you have created yet another tree-covered barren landscapes by using Kubabul provided by the Forest Department or orchards of stunted Jatropha if you believe the agro-industrialists.

The real challenge in growing trees is not planting trees but keeping them alive. We can tackle this is many ways.

One is commitment. Choose carefully based on what level of care you can commit. In other words,

“Bite off only what you can chew”

or

“Cut your coat to suit your cloth”.

Our children of the Painted Storks Nature Club wanted to plant trees in the Sarvatra Bird Sanctuary. But it is not possible (or realistic to expect) for the children to come  and water the plants since the sanctuary extends over many acres, has lonely corners, and very little access to water. So we decided to plant in close vicinity of the Middle Lake Garden which is frequented by the children, where water is nearby and where the gardeners can help water these plants.

Sunset at the lakeside Mandir - a picture of serenity.

The Lake Garden provided little scope for useful addition, so we decided to plant some trees and bushes around the CME Lake Mandir where except for a Tulsi plant (Ocimum sanctum var krishna) in front and a Tamarind tree (Tamarindus indica) above the temple, no other plants were present. It is just 30 meters from the garden and on the lakeshore itself.

We chose our plants carefully. Since we were planting around the mandir (temple), the emphasis was given to shrubs with bright flowers or having perfumed flowers. We tried to choose those which are commonly used for worship in Maharashtra. We also decided to plant three small-statured trees which would highlight the mandir’s background. We chose well-developed saplings for plantation which were sturdy enough to survive (unintentional) neglect and which already had some flowers so as to enthuse the children and give them a foretaste of how the garden would look. It was more expensive but worth it.

Children plant a shrub with rapt concentration.

The Painted Storks planted the following shrubs on the side of the temple :

* “Juhi” (Jasminum auriculatum)
* “Mogra” or “Madanbaan” (Jasminum sambac)
* “Tagar” or Crepe Jasmine (Tabernaemontana coronaria)
* “Anant” (Gardenia jasminoides)
* Red Hibiscus (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis)
* “Raj Chameli” (Jasminum nitidum)
* “Chameli” (Jasminum flexile)
* “Zai” (Jasminum officinalis)
* “Sarpagandha” (Rauwolfia serpentina), a medicinal plant.

"Juhi" (Jasminum auriculatum) (Image: Dinesh Valke, CC-BY-NC-ND)

"Tagar" (Tabernaemontana coronaria) (Image : Himanshu Sarpotdar, CC-BY-NC-ND-2.0)

Behind the temple we planted three saplings of small trees having beautiful flowers :
* “Parijaat” (Nyctanthes arbor-tristis).
* “Savni” or Crepe Myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica).
* “Sonchafa” or “Champak” (Michelia champaca).

"Parijaat" (Nyctanthes arbor-tristis) (Image:JM Garg, CC-BY-SA 3.0)

The first tree being planted - a "Parijaat".

That is it – exactly twelve plants, but well chosen, well planted and well-located. What do you think are the odds of survival of these twelve than the desultory planting of many more? And when they do survive which will give the better effect?

A child nails an Aluminium name label to a Neem tree.

One could of course say, don’t confuse gardening with tree-plantation, but the principles are the same.

Problems and dilemmas will arise in this activity, as it does in all of mankind’s ventures. The most important one would that as to how to water the plants regularly. In my opinion, this would be the most difficult of all tasks associated with nurturing trees. When we know that we cannot come often to water the plants, should we not plant?

We could choose to plant drought resistant native species such as Neem and Babul. We could jury-rig  drip irrigation with plastic bottles and tubes which would need less water and give a longer effect. We could mulch the saplings – the mulch helps retain the water, reduces erosion, suppresses weed growth and seed germination and adds to the fertility over time. We could water in the evening where our water loss due to evaporation will reduce. We could choose to come at a fixed intervals as per our convenience – say once a fortnight or month, to water the plants accepting the triage due to the environment. We could plant hardy two-three year old saplings rather than very small saplings.

By applying our mind, and by matching our effort to our thought, we can increase the chances of survival of the trees.

If I were to plant a few hectares of arid area in Maharashtra, for example, I would choose native species such as Babul and Ber  (Zizyphus jujuba) for the general backdrop, add a few Ficus to form the focal points and plant many interesting but scarce trees. A few Agaves would help prevent soil erosion in the monsoon run off along with some simple landscaping, a few legumes would help improve the soil condition. There would also be a few creepers, many shrubs (both perennial and annual) and definitely useful grasses and bamboo. Maybe a few exotic Gliricidia trees to provide ready-made green manure for the caretakers. Amidst these, a few trees or shrubs carefully selected to provide all kinds of resources (nectar, food, shelter, nesting etc) to the typical biodiversity of that place.

Mother of Cacao (Glyricida sepium) a green manure tree. (Image :Kim & Forest Starr, CC-BY-SA 3.0, click image for source.)

That’s all I can come up with off the cuff. But in reality, the tree plantation scheme for this otherwise hypothetical scheme would be worked out carefully in much greater detail and perhaps even plotted graphically on a map. The location, aim, species available would all be considered. A planting schedule over two-three years would be considered. The civil engineering works would be restricted to a bare minimum. Nothing more than a fence, water tank or supply. A shed for the forest guard and perhaps minimal amenities in a place under a shade tree where the nature-lovers can sit, rest, enjoy nature, have their meal etc.

However, I would expect the record-keeping and science to be top class. None of the careless generalities thrown in by so-called experts. The practice of science in even such a routine activity as tree-plantation should be second to none.

That then is my view of tree-planting…

Let’s not just plant trees, let’s craft Nature.

Credits:

My sincere thanks to Mr Nandan Kalbag of www.gardentia.net who dotes on his son-in-law (yours truly) and fielded telephone calls on asking what plants to choose at all times of the day and night.

Members of Indian Tree Pix/EFlora India such as Mr JM Garg & Mr Dinesh Valke (and others) who made images available on the internet with Creative Commons licenses.

Century Post & World Biodiversity Day tomorrow

This post is the 100th on this blog. Tomorrow is World Biodiversity Day. I hope that I have done justice to these landmarks with this post/

Butterfly enthusiast abducted!

STOP PRESS! This just in via ButterflyIndia email group.

The Telegraph (newspaper)

Guwahati/Itanagar, May 13: Suspected militants of the National Democratic Front of Boroland abducted an Indian Forest Service official of the Maharashtra cadre, V.S. Bardekar, from Daimara village in West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh, last night. (This is close to Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary).

Bardekar, a cadre of the 1984 batch, who was posted at Pune as the joint director (administration) , directorate of social forestry, Maharashtra, was on a private visit when he was abducted. Security forces have launched an operation to rescue him.

Read More about it here!

We pray for the speedy and safe return of the official.

Thanks to Niranjan Bhagobaty for alerting the community.

Handle that snake carefully!

(Thoughts on the handling of snakes by naturalists)

In any nature outing, you will find at least one guy who decides that the hapless snake, accidentally discovered, is meant solely for showing off his courage, daring and virility. The poor snake is purloined, handled, twisted, turned into a garland and poked forward towards shrieking members of the fairer sex. No thought is given to the fact that the snake needs to held correctly without damaging its fragile bones.

Image Credit : Thomas Kelly. Copyrighted. Click image for link url. (Under Fair Use).

Another characteristic of such encounters is the lamentable lack of proper knowledge by these “heroes”, who consequently endanger their own and their friends’ lives.

Besides juvenile immaturity, another reason for such acts is the emulation of the profusion of snake wrangler shows on TV! While they appear to popularise these creatures, many so-called snake experts mis-handle these snakes  for the sake of “better cinema”.

Wrong lesson! A famous TV snake wrangler with a Black Mamba – never ever try this at all!

More importantly, the wranglers do very dangerous things and make it look safe and easy. You would not feel so impressed by some one who took great care in handling and cautioned you of the many dangers. The truth is that they are experts in handling snakes but it is very dangerous and foolish to emulate them in any manner.

Anyone truly interested in snakes is careful and considerate while handling these elegant creatures. Handling of snakes is to be avoided in general, and if necessary, is to be done for the right reasons such as rescuing them, for educating people, for captive breeding or conservation. It is never meant to be done to enhance one’s own reputation.

Here is an interesting photograph – an acquaintance of mine is touching what he thought is a “Python“. Except, that its an extremely lethal Russell’s Viper.

The officer is innocent – he was told by a nature-loving friend that it was indeed a python. Apparently, his nature-loving friend who helped him overcome his fears of touching snakes was just as knowledgeable as he was. Amazingly, both had handled the “python” and had not been bitten. God protects the innocent sometimes.

Full marks to this officer for daring to touch a “python”. Fortunately, he doesn’t know its a Russel’s Viper and the snake did not bite.

A villager had brought them an “ajgar” (Hindi or Marathi for python) and they had foolishly believed in his store of native knowledge and his skills of identification. Fortunately, the handsome Russel’s Viper belied the evil eye and cold sneer of his face and acted like a perfect gentle-python! It could so easily have been a more dramatic story.

These young men were basically photography buffs and interested, but inexperienced, in Nature. This incident is a caution to all photographers of nature – be a naturalist first then a photographer. You will be a much better photographer if you understand your elusive subjects. More importantly, you will not put yourself in such dangerous spots.

One should be highly circumspect about handling snakes. In India, we have a number of venomous snakes, some not only deadly to humans but also fairly common.

The “Big Four” venomous snakes in India are the Indian Cobra, the Common Krait, the Russell’s Viper and the Saw-scaled Viper.

The binocellate Indian Cobra (Naja naja)

Russel’s Viper (Daboia russelii)

Common Krait (Bungarus caeruleus)

Saw-scaled Viper (Echis carinatus)

The Big Four snakes are responsible for more than 90% of venomous snake-bite deaths in our country. The Hafkinne Institute makes a polyvalent anti-venin which is effective in treating bites by the  big four snakes. This anti-venin is freely available in Govt dispensaries and has saved the lives of many of our countrymen.

Polyvalent anti-snake venom serum from Haffkine. (Click image for more information)

But there is no guarantee that this antivenin being available – makes the handling of snakes safe. If you are bitten in the wild, you could succumb before reaching medical aid. You could reach in time but not respond to the treatment or even be allergic to one of the active ingredients of the anti-venin. Alternatively, the Primary Health Centre may be out of vaccine. Keeping India’s rural electricity in mind, the antivenin may be ineffective due to its not being stored at the right temperatures.

Earlier we used to be worried only about the  “Big Four” – the four highly venomous snakes in the Indian country-side considered to be responsible for the majority of deaths due to snake-bite . But there are many others too, such as the King Cobra, the Banded Krait, Hump-nosed Pit Viper, the many green pit vipers (Trimeresurus complex) and many other vipers, the Rhabdobis group of poisonous colubrid snakes.

Sir Joseph Fayrer’s 1874 illustration of a King Cobra

Banded Krait (Bungarus fasciatus) photgraphed by me in Binnaguri, North Bengal.

Hump-nosed Viper (Hypnale hypnale). (Image credit : Vijay Barve)

All these are venomous snakes of great medical importance, more so as no anti-venin is available in India for treating their bites.  They are usually uncommon, some are  found in deep forest, inaccessible places, or are rare or even extremely docile (sea-snakes). Naturalists would do well to remember that the Polyvalent serum is useless in treating the bites of these snakes.

As far as anti-venin is concerned, there is an added complication. Recent taxonomic studies using genome mapping have revealed that the Big Four snakes in India (except the Russel’s Viper) are not one species but actually comprise more than one species.

The Saw-scaled Viper in the Deccan plateau is Echis carinatus while the saw-scaled viper found in Rajasthan and North-west India is Sochurek’s Viper Echis sochureki (earlier a subspecies of Echis carinatus) .

The Common Cobra (Naja naja) has now been hived off into many species (see Wuster for an interesting account of Asian cobras).  A total of four different cobras  are found in India –

• The binocellate Indian Cobra Naja naja,
• The Monocellate Cobra Naja kaouthia,
• The Central Asian Cobra Naja oxiana,
• The Andaman Cobra Naja sagittifera,
• There is a possibility that the Burmese Spitting Cobra Naja mandaleyensis is also found in the general area of Manipur – Mizoram.

Wall’s Krait (Bungarus sindianus), a subspecies of the Common Krait (Bungarus caeruleus) that is found in North West India and is known to extend down to Pune, has now been given separate species status.

Monocled Cobra (Naja kaouthia) (Image: W. Wuster – Click image to reach source).

Wall’s Krait (Bungarus sindanus) (Image : Tom Charlton – click link to reach source)

Sochurek’s Viper (Image:Tomáš Mazuch, click to reach source)

So why should we bother that these snake species have been split?

Earlier, snakes were classified into species or types, by comparing physical characteristics such as shape, number and position of scales and on the shape of their bones, besides other things. While this helps us to classify them broadly, the fine graining or distinguishing between what constitutes a species or not was a subjective opinion of experts based on these morphological characteristics.

A typical snake scale image used in morphological taxonomy (from Wikipedia) .

Genome studies map individual DNA sequences, genes and chromosomes. Since all life has originated once and the entire biodiversity of extinct and extant animals have evolved from the first forms of life created in evolution, the DNA of a species bears evidence of its evolution through the years. Through difficult science and advanced computational mathematics using very powerful computers, genome scientists have developed techniques of ascertaining the phylogeny of creatures. These studies help differentiate species from the differences in genes rather than from morphology alone. This permits us to classify and relate different species with much more accuracy and reliability.

Part of a snake phyllogeny diagram deduced through genomic investigations. (Click the image to reach the source paper and learn more.)

Click to enlarge : part image or for the full image of phylogeny.

If the Cobra has now been classified as many different cobra species – it means that these were many different snakes to begin with.  Not one common, found all over Asia cobra as we thought. That means each species of cobra found in Indian territory has its own set of characteristics including a different venom composition for which the anti-venin needs to be made separately.  When we thought that these cobras were subspecies of the old Common Cobra (Naja naja) , we thought that basically their venom composition was similar – i.e. basically same but with small differences. Now we find that though they may resemble each other their venom could be very different. Just taking a binocellate cobra and making its antivenin, hoping it will work for the other three cobra species, will no longer do.

A recent study on Snakebite Management in Asia & Africa – A guide to snakebite in the key areas for mortality & morbidity by the Pakistan Medical Research Council clearly indicates that Naja oxiana and Naja kaouthia are not covered by availability of anti-snake-venom, i.e. the Haffkine Polyvalent Snake Venom is only good for Naja naja.

It appears from this website of the Haffkine Bio-pharmaceutical Corporation that polyvalent venom is being made for the old Big Four.  No mention is made of the finer detail revealed by latest taxonomic advances.

So don’t have blind faith that “since anti-venin exists, I can risk a snake-bite“.

The entry and interaction of such terrible poisons as those contained in snake venom wreaks terrible damage even if life is saved by prompt treatment. Neelimkumar Khaire, a celebrated snake-handler of Pune, lost his arm to a saw-scaled viper bite. Romulus Whitaker, it is said, can no longer catch snakes because he has been bitten so many times, the next bite or its treatment will kill him! Bites from snakes having active haemolytic ingredients in their venom  can cause loss of kidneys. Each snake-bite would involve necrosis, organ damage and many other horrible side effects. What kind of a life will that be – a cripple, an invalid, a dialysis patient – and all for the sake of an ego or carelessness or incompetence or all three?

If you still want to become a snake handler, first please see the destructive power of snake bites here :

• “Snake-bite” on Wikipedia.
• The management of snake-bites in Malaysia.
• Monocled cobra bites.

And remember, these were those who LIVED!

Understand that this is a very dangerous business and then and then alone get involved with it.

If you or an acquaintance is bitten by a snake, what should be done?

First of all do not neglect it, even if you think or know the snake is non-poisonous, even if the skin does not appear to be broken.  Don’t even consider the old tourniquet thing, cut and suck, ice-therapy, the PIM method or “Jadi-buti” treatment. Get to medical aid as soon as possible.

While moving a snake-bite casualty to hospital, do it RIGHT by following the the latest national first aid treatment recommended – based around the mnemonic : “Do it R.I.G.H.T.” : –

It consists of :

R. =     Reassure the patient. Seventy per cent of all snakebites are from non-venomous species. Only 50% of bites by venomous species actually envenomate the patient.

I. =      Immobilise the bitten limb in the same way as a with fractured limb. Use bandages or cloth to hold the splints, not to block the blood supply or apply pressure. Do not apply any kind of compression in the form of tight ligatures, they don’t work and can be dangerous!

G.H. =  Get the patient to Hospital immediately. Traditional remedies have NO PROVEN benefit in treating snakebite.

T. =      Tell the doctor of any systemic symptoms such as ptosis that manifest on the way to hospital.

To read more :

• Indian National Snakebite Protocol 2007.
• Guidelines for the Clinical Management of Snake Bite in the South-East Asia Region. (Gives details of this protocol from WHO)
• Snakebite Management in Asia & Africa – A guide to snakebite in the key areas for mortality & morbidity.

None of this is meant to discourage you dear reader from being interested in snakes  – we want all Indians to be educated about snakes.

If you are interested in snakes – that’s great! Watch Animal Planet, Discovery and National Geographic channels on TV. Get a good book, learn about them, their habits, identifying the species and their wonderful way of life. If you would like to learn how to handle snakes, go to snake-parks where carefully supervised handling may be permitted. Get to know snake rescuers and accompany them to snake rescues.

Safe handling of a harmless snake – a Common Trinket – for education of the lay public.

Most important of all – be a “sarpamitra” i.e. a friend of snakes. Fight blind belief and educate your family, friends and neighbours that snakes do not drink milk or have jewels embedded in their heads. They do not have photography in their retinas that they retain after death and transmit to their mates who then search that person out for revenge in the best Bollywood tradition. Prevent the blind killing of snakes, help them escape to safety.

Snakes are dangerous creatures but not so much to the common Indian who fears snakes but more so to those who choose to handle them with inadequate knowledge and experience. It would be wise to heed the words of Dr. Ian D. Simpson of the W.H.O. Snakebite Treatment Group who is  one of the prominent snake-bite treatment experts of South Asia :-

“India has no shortage of amateur expert snake catchers/handlers. India also has the world’s highest mortality rate from snakebites. The two are not entirely unconnected. Its nothing like it is on the T.V. The snake has to be lucky just once. The snake catcher has to be lucky every time!”

See also

• Snakebite: it’s not just about the victim – Vishal Santra