OK class, for today's lesson (Jason! Eyes to the front!!), we'll review some 1996-2000 press excerpts relating to Cobras and Milk. For the most part, we'll keep mainly to the passages that deal with milk being fed to cobras - usually in bowls - and cut out the non essntial parts.
We'll also take a short look at other press items involving 'cobras and milk' with the intention of ... (Greg! Something you'd like to share with the rest of the class? No, well, put it away then!) ... where was I?
Oh yes, snippits on cobras and milk that don't involve ingestion ... well, milk ingestion by cobras anyway ...
Cheers all,
Wes ... on a flashback to recruit training

DAILY EXCELSIOR (Jammu, India) 18 August 00 Rakhis for rescue of animals
Mumbai (PTI): Birds and animal lovers in Mumbai this time celebrated ‘Raksha Bandhan’ and ‘Nag Panchami’ with a difference — dedicating the festival to conservation of animals.
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On August 15, ‘Rakhis’ predominantly displaying the message ‘protect us’ were distributed while on ‘Nag Panchnami’ day on August 4, people were urged not to offer milk to the snakes who are reportedly being tortured in the name of religion.
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Snakes are captured several days before the ‘nag panchami’ festival. First, they are defanged and their venomous glands are carved out completely. Then they are starved of food and water for atleast a month.
When people offer them milk, which is not their natural food, the reptiles accept it in a hope to quench their thirst, Kedar Bhide of Reptile Rescue Centre here said.
"The practice of pouring milk on the snake’s head causes it to flow through their nostrils into the lungs. Usually the fangs are removed by desterlised blades and wounds caused to snake are often infected by the milk resulting in diseases. This is how snakes die a slow and painful death," he said.
A defanged snake cannot survive even in the wild. The venom of the snake has several functions. It is needed to immobilise the prey. If such a snake manages to catch food, digesting it becomes a problem because venom also contains digestive juices.
Snake charmers are also known to sew the hair of horses and pigs onto the snake so that they can fool the people into believing they have specially blessed snakes.
It is high time people realise that snake worship is cruel. Instead of live snakes they can pray bronze ones. In Mumbai, such practice was noticed this time and is quite a healthy trend, animal lovers say.
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http://www.dailyexcelsior.com/00aug18/national.htm

POST-INTELLIGENCER (Seattle, Washington) 05 August 00 India moves to halt abuse of snakes: Brass replicas used instead at festival
New Delhi, India (AP): Brass replicas replaced real snakes during a popular Hindu festival in Bombay yesterday, a day after police confiscated 70,000 starving cobras and rock pythons that were to be forced to drink milk.
Some 50,000 snakes die every year during the Nagpanchami festival, when people offer milk, congealed butter and sweetened rice to starving snakes, according to estimates from the World Wide Fund for Nature-India. Snakes do not drink milk.
In the wake of the confiscations, devotees who usually feed teaspoons of milk to the snakes instead symbolically fed the brass replicas, United News of India reported.
During the days before the festival, snake handlers puncture snakes' venom glands, pull out the fangs and sew their mouths shut so they will be harmless and hungry for the special food, which they normally do not eat, the fund says. The forced feeding results in diarrhea or chokes snakes to death when the milk goes into their lungs, animal rights activists say.
Over the past couple of years, teams of wildlife officials and volunteers have been swooping down on snake charmers who display snakes outside railway stations and temples. The snake charmers encourage passers-by to throw money or place milk near the snakes during the days leading up to the festival.
The snake is held as sacred in India, and clay idols of snakes are commonly seen in temples.
http://seattlep-i.nwsource.com/national/snak05.shtml

INDIAN EXPRESS (Bombay) 01 August 00 Worshiping snakes is practising cruelty
Mumbai: The cruel practice of `snake worship' during the festival of `Nagpanchami' on August 4 is actually sounding the death rattle for several thousand snakes, mainly cobras, all over the country.
The World Wide Fund (WWF) for Nature - India has therefore appealed to the people not to indulge in the live worship of snakes, and also stop the unnatural habit of feeding the snakes with milk.
“Snakes do not drink milk and are actually allergic to it. All snakes are carnivores feeding only on live rats, mice, frogs; and are also biological pest controllers,” reads a WWF poster, which informs the public about the myths and fallacies of snake worship.
In fact, the snakes are actually made to starve for several days before Nagpanchami, so that they readily drink the milk offered by the public. “The snakes are reptiles having sharp teeth with which they feed only on live prey like rats, mice, frogs and other mammals they can overpower. These are then swallowed entirely and the snake's strong digestive juices help in the breakdown of the food. Hence, they are not adapted to drinking milk,” states a press note of WWF. It is also a myth that snakes drink milk by clinging to the udder of cows and buffaloes. The teeth of snakes are so sharp that a cow or a buffalo cannot tolerate the hold of a snake even for a second. In nature, only the mammals such as tigers, rats, elephants, whales and human beings have the ability to produce milk and supply to their offsprings.
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After drinking milk, the snake suffers from diarrhea and chokes as the milk enters their lungs. In most cases, they die within a few days of Nagpanchami.
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http://www.indian-express.com/ie/daily/20000801/ina01012.html

GOMANTAK TIMES (Panjim, Goa, India) 30 July 00 Snake-friendly school (Sanjay Ghugretkar)
People cringe at the very mention of snakes. But there are exceptions. Dolgarwadi is one such village where snakes are not feared but considered friends. My eyes popped when I saw the students of Mamasaheb Laud High School handling a variety snakes with gay abandon. What was noteworthy was that they were genuinely fond of snakes and were not putting on an act.
Every year on Nagpanchami day this School holds an exhibition of snakes to create awareness and to dispel the myths associated with snakes. This awareness programme dates right back to 1966 and is the brainchild of Baburao Takekar. A laudable feat because it has definitely changed the attitude of the people of Dolgarwadi towards snakes.
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There are many myths about snakes. "Yes I know. People believe that snakes are revengeful. This is absurd since snakes don't have memory. It's dogs and cats who have memories and remember the wrong done to them, but not snakes. Also snakes cannot sip milk since they swallow their prey. So one shouldn't attempt to offer milk to snakes.
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http://www.gomantaktimes.com/WK20000730.HTM

TIMES OF INDIA (New Dehli) 14 August 99 Spare the snakes during Nagpanchami (Shamshed Ali Baig)
Mumbai : Over 60,000 snakes die at Nagpanchami which, ironically, is a festival dedicated to their worship, according to a nation-wide survey conducted by the Indian Herpetological Society (IHS).
Ulhas Thakur, an environmentalist and secretary of the Raigad and Navi Mumbai branch of the IHS and the winner of the third `Sarpa Mitra' award in 1995 (the award has been instituted by the Pune-based environmental organisation Reenjani), explains the cruel practices which lead to the death of these snakes: "Two weeks prior to Nagpanchami, snake-charmers traps the snakes, extract their fangs and leave them starving. On Nagpanchami day, they take these snakes to the cities where ignorant people feed them with milk. Milk is like poison to these snakes. The milk enters their lungs, resulting in infections and pneumonia. Nearly 90 per cent of the snakes die within a week of this treatment. The snake-charmers are basically from Bihar, UP and Rajasthan and after the festival they rip the skin off the snakes for making purses, belts, etc."
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http://www.timesofindia.com/140899/14mbom20.htm

TIMES OF INDIA (New Delhi) 28 July 98 For the snakes, Nagpanchami is no celebration
Mumbai: Nagpanchami, the Hindu festival in honour of the snake god, which falls on Tuesday, is lethal to snakes. Thousands of the reptiles are cruelly ensnared, defanged, tortured, starved and later pumped with milk -- only to cater to the faith of devotees on this one day.
Animal welfare organisations have begun preparations to rescue thousands of snakes that are annually brought into the city by snake charmers for Nagpanchami.
Snake charmers and traders hailing from various parts of Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Gujarat begin their work a month earlier, with snake burrows being dug up and the reptiles prodded out with sticks. “The snakes are kept in earthen pots and hung from trees till Nagpanchami day,” said a World Wildlife Fund spokesperson.
One in every four snakes dies of the trauma of extraction and confinement. The fangs of poisonous snakes are pulled out to prevent them from biting. “Not only is this extremely painful but it also results in accumulation of venom in the glands until they burst in about three months,” said Sudnya Patkar, president of In Defence of Animals. Some snake charmers are known to stitch or burn the snakes' mouths to avoid being bitten.
The tails of sand boas are burnt and these are marketed as do muha (“two-faced snake”) by some snake charmers. “Both ends of a sand boa look similar. Snake charmers burn their tails to make them blunt and rounded, so that it looks more like a mouth,” according to Satnam Ahuja of Ahimsa, an animal rights organisation. These snakes are then used as a special attraction. “Out of ignorance, people give away money, not knowing the torture that the snakes have been through,” said Shivam Seth, an animal activist.
Nagpanchami falls on the fifth day of the lunar month of Shravan and is celebrated by worshipping `Nagoba', the snake god. “Snake charmers play upon the religious sentiments of people in a bid to extract money from them,” notes Ms Patkar.
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People are also encouraged to feed milk to the snakes, but in reality they are only sending the animals to an early grave. “Snakes are not milk drinkers,” confirmed a spokesperson from the Haffkine Institute. In fact snakes are allergic to milk, and milk consumption can cause dysentery in them.
“They seem to consume milk on Nagpanchami day only because they are kept starving for several days prior to the festival,” said Ms Kamath adding that when snakes are given milk, it is often in excess. The milk flows into their lungs and breaks the membrane of the oesophagus. Every year on Nagpanchami 60,000 to 70,000 snakes die from choking, pneumonia, lung infection, sepsis and milk allergy, according to a WWF survey.
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TIMES OF ZAMBIA (Ndola) 30 March 98 Milk doesn't neutralise snake poison
Man is fascinated by what he finds fearful and strange. Looking at the snake, it is without limbs, eyelids, swallows its food whole without taking bites out of it. It lives in water, trees, on the ground and under ground.
It emerges from underground silently and suddenly to stare with unblinking eyes at the world, wearing a permanent cunning looking straight smile.
They are long, thin, fat, aggressive, inoffensive, beautifully decorated, plain greens, browns and other ordinary coloured ones.
Snakes have fascinated man - he has worshipped them, as did the ancient Egyptians whose goddess Ejo - was an Egyptian cobra believed to guard the River Nile delta.
The other reptile god was Sobek - the crocodile god having a human body and crocodile head.
Depending on the society, tribe and religion - snakes are seen as symbols of evil, good, peace, war, fertility, barrenness, demons etc.
It all lies with where one comes from.
So, those of the readers interested in myths, legends and beliefs, I must let you know that it is a complex topic due to the complexity of human society both locally and international.
The fact is whether most of us like to admit it or not. Snakes somehow fascinate us - hate or love them. I am pretty sure a number of you on visiting a Zoo will not go to first see the lion.
You will inquire where the snake pits are; why? After satisfying your fear and curiosity, lion and leopard are next on your list.
Man is fascinated by the bizarre and strange, anything unearthly so to say is worth trying out or seeing.
The question I am always asked about my work is “What about snakes?”
“Well what about them?” is my reply.
Look dear reader, going to a national park does not mean you will find snakes falling over each other. You probably will spend a week or two, without seeing one.
Perhaps a longer stay may produce one, probably a smashed representative, a victim of someone's battering. You could maybe see one crossing the road or vanishing down a hole.
Don't go after it, you might find yourself grabbing the tail end or following a mamba or cobra. By now most of you avid followers of the snake/reptile series are aware that these two are not pleasant customers to provoke.
A tourist once asked me, how many snakes I had seen for most of my time out in the bush. I can safely say more than Tarzan has in all his movie and career.
Both in variety and numbers, it is nothing to brag about because some of those encounters almost ended in painful epilogues of my life.
But it went the other end, the snakes have never flared better in one-on-one encounters. I find my life worthy of defending against harm from fang, horn, hoof or claw.
What saved me and always does is to apply one extremely important rule - DO NOT PANIC; STAY CALM AND ALERT. I feel, I'll be repeating this directive time after time. Get it from me most of the cobras, adders and mambas I have met, never deliberately went out of their way to attack or bite me. I disturbed them, I entered their domain - rarely have I had to kill a cobra in my house.
I don't keep long grass around the house and discourage frogs and rats in and around the house. They bring unwanted guests of which chief gate-crashers are cobras.
Snakes do not, according to beliefs, go out to attack you deliberately. Someone spread a tale that when a snake bites you drink milk.
If you go ahead and drink it, you'll be dead anyway because the stomach will receive the milk and digest it, that's all.
Poison enters the blood stream to cause damage to your blood-cells, tissue, nerves etc. Milk is only helpful when washing out cobra venom spat into the eyes externally. Milk neutralises the effects of the poison attacking the surface of the eyeball and burning away the tiny veins. But milk comes along and disarms the destructive agent.
Water is best, but if you are spat at and there's no water nearby you, squeeze milk from the breasts of a lactating woman. It has been used before but water is best.
Drinking milk after being bitten only makes you full of milk but the poison continues its effects. It is not true, dear readers and don't think carrying milk in the bush will help your thirst either - water is best.
Another weird one, goes like this, if a snake bites you to fully recover sleep with a close - very close relative and you won't die.
That is committing incest! It is an abomination. A lie too!
A snake bite is not cured by sexual union. It is cured by applying medical treatment. It really is funny what myths pop here and there.
In one article, I did write that I was not making fun of other people's beliefs. However, certain things need to be put right.
The truth sets us free and there is no substitute. Half truths and lies are very dangerous to your health.
I was told that myth through a letter I received and dear readers it is not right nor true.
See a person when beaten. They are in a state of shock and even certain anti-snake bite serum actually causes more side effects.
There is the spitting cobra myth that if it spits at you spit back. Not recommended.
I know that it is recorded in the book Snakes of the Luangwa valley that one of the older wildlife guards did that and the cobra was surprised. It doesn't mean everyone can do it, the scout went to the extent of starring down at the cobra which withdrew..
A colleague in Kenya was pursued by a cobra he had disturbed. It kept spiting venom at him relentlessly until it ran dry. It was very agitated and annoyed. Being a snake collector he managed to get it despite its aggression.
I am told he had thrown water at it and it did not fancy being drenched.
Cobras are very unpredictable and I would not like you to return the compliment by spitting at it. Just avoid them as they prefer to do the same to you- avoid you.
Shed snake skin when held does not cause one to start losing his skin. In other words skin peeling off, its just like you cutting off your long nails.
You don't need them, so the shed snake skin is dead tissue left to decay and carried off by wind.
Snakes do not leave spit in the form of foaming substance at the base of a tree or shrub as a warning or marking territory. Only spitting cobras spit - actually squirt any liquid from their mouth.
This is not produced in foam but is syrup like in colour and light enough to be spread into the air.
Don't go drinking milk or getting intimate with a close relative when beaten. You have got to get medical attention.
If anything avoid getting beaten at all costs. Most legends I've been told by mouth and letter have proved untrue so far.
Of course I do not hold all the answers - human society is so complex which adds to the difficulties of sorting out which myths are true or false. There are numerous both locally and internationally. But again please IF BITTEN GET MEDICAL ATTENTION.

THE STAR (Petaling Jaya, Malaysia) 20 October 97 Snake shows a lucrative trade
Performing with snakes may be a dangerous job but it is a lucrative one. Snake charmers charge up to RM1,500 for an hour's show which includes kissing the deadly king cobra on its head.
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He claimed that he also had swallowed the venom of the cobras during shows while inserting the reptiles' heads into his mouth as part of the act, without suffering any ill effects.
Describing the taste of the venom, Noor said: "The venom of the common cobra is extremely bitter but the venom of the king cobra tastes like cow's milk."
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WEEKLY WORLD NEWS (US Tabloid) 14 January 97
Bulawayo, Zimbabwe: Swedish tourist Kurt Fredriksson was trying to photograph a cobra when the dangerous snake reared up and spat directly in his eyes - dooming him to permanent blindness. But a quick thinking local woman, who was nursing her baby, sprang to the visitor's aid - by squirting breast milk in his eyes. Because milk serves as an antidote to cobra venom, the lucky Swede's eyesight was saved!

INDIAN EXPRESS (Madras, India) 15 August 96 Nag Panchami spells mass murder of snakes
Mumbai: Snakes do not consume milk; in fact, it can cause their death. Snakes do not sway to the tune of flute (they can't hear it, the spreading of hood is only a defensive posture). Snake charmers, popularly known as Naths, are no worshippers of snakes. Infact they torture the reptiles by removing their fangs, stiching their lips and sell their skin for a decent profit...
All these disturbing facts notwithstanding, on the occasion of Nag Panchami next week, thousands of devouts will offer milk and money to the thousands of snake charmers who have already descended upon the city, little realising that they are only encouraging more nag devtas to be killed.
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This year, they are already out on the steets, railway stations and other busy centres practicing their charm and seeking alms in the name of religion, presumably to feed milk to the captive snakes.
"Little do the people realise that snakes do not consume milk. In fact, milk can cause their death due to dysentry and other infections," says herpetologist Vijay Awsare.

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