7 Indian snake rescuers who are helping the environment by keeping our reptiles safe

Snake charming is seeing the low, what with people finding other means of entertainment and animal activists crying out foul. Though snake charming has come to take a back seat, there is another and even better form of snake charming that’s on the rise and thankfully so.

Snake rescuers, in other words, snake conservationists are charming the snakes, not to make them dance to their tunes but to protect them from perishing. These amazing herpetologists have made it their duty to charm these reptiles and keep them safe from public violence and habitat extinction.

Many activists from India, some still unknown to people, are working hard to keep our environment in balance and snake charmers are doing this in their own way.

Let’s read about a few of them who have brought in real change in wildlife snake protection.

1. Vava Suresh

Vava Suresh’s name tops the list of snake conservationists for many reasons. Since a boy of 12, Suresh has been fascinated by reptiles . The man has been bitten by venomous snakes no less than 266 times and has been bitten by all kinds of snakes at least a whopping 3,000 times! This Thiruvananthapuram activist is widely known for rescuing and protecting 30,000 straying snakes.

Despite having no educational qualifications, Suresh is trusted with the gravest snake accidents as he has always had an instinctive passion for snakes and anything concerned with them. Well, the bites tell us that, don’t they?

2. Gowri Shankar

A reptile enthusiast since the age of 13, Gowri has not only made snakes his life but has also chosen a life partner who is interested in snakes. Residing in Agumbe, Karnataka,  Gowri has given all his time to rescuing, protecting and educating people about King Cobras.

Just like the snake, the effort needed to maintain king cobras is also proving to be king size. The first thoughts that strike people when they approach a cobra are venom and death. But Gowri is making sure they also know about the snake’s contributions to the environment.

3. Snehal Bhatt

She is rightfully called the ‘Cobra Girl’ of Gujarat. The fiery lady mostly works on avoiding human and snake encounters that harm both but kill snakes more often than people.

Most people in Gujarat only trust Snehal with snakes. She handles the most dangerous of them and enjoys watching their relief on being rescued.

4. Romulus Whitaker

Many of you must have heard about this wildlife conservationist. Romulus or Rom as he is popularly called, took to saving and protecting reptiles much later in life. An army man initially, his career brought him back to India, where his family was then based. He then began to work for the famous Madras Snake Park that came up in 1972.

Romulus did not stop at charming snakes alone. There is a tribe called Irula in Chennai that lost its job when trade in snake skin was banned. It was Rom who put them back on track by giving them the job of extracting venom from snakes to make anti-venom drugs to cure snake bites. That’s what’s called killing two birds with one arrow.

5. Snake Shyam

When young Balasubramania heard his neighbour shouting at the sight of a snake, he  convinced people around not to kill it, captured it and released it in the nearby garden; thus earning his famous nick-name ‘Snake Shyam”. He worked as an auto rickshaw driver in Mysore, entrusted with the job of picking and dropping students to nearby schools. But there was a different calling awaiting him.

After the incident mentioned above Shyam took to rescuing snakes in Mysore and conserving them or dropping them off at conservatories. Though not a herpetologist, people in Mysore call Shyam first when they encounter a snake. Shyam is also quite a sight with his sun hat, overflowing beads and multiple rings on his fingers.

6. Mintu Chowdhury

Coming from the small but important Jalpaiguri district in West Bengal, Mintu Chowdhury has been saving snakes since he was a teenager. But he only found fame when Animal Planet herpetologist Mark O’ Shea sought his help to locate gigantic rock pythons in the area. Nobody could manage to find them except for Mintu, who nabbed an 18 feet long rock python for Mark.

The forest department in Bengal seeks Mintu’s help for every snake-rescue mission. Mintu also cures injured snakes and sends them back to where they belong. We have got Mark O’ Shea to thank for bringing this amazing man to the fore.

7. The Chittis

Anant Chitti and his wife Nirzana are the new kids on the block. Nizrana became a snake rescuer after watching Anant’s passion towards the reptiles. The couple have been in and around Karnataka rescuing snakes and raising awareness about human-snake interactions.

Nirzana has been doing this for over 7 years now and rescues not just harmless snakes but vipers, Cobras and rat snakes. Well, you never know what you will learn from your spouse.

Hats off to these true snake charmers who are keeping the reptiles safe for the rest of mankind.