DECCAN CHRONICLE (Chennai, India) 17 January 10 Snake-catchers may be out of a job soon
Chennai: Fifty-year-old Santhi and her husband Dandapani have been making a living out of catching snakes for their venom for the past 23 years. Both belong to the Irula tribe and live in one of the poorest villages in Chengalpattu district barely 50 km from here.
The childless couple goes out to work together and claim that catching snakes is a team effort.
“Whenever my husband gets a request from the cooperative society to catch a particular type of snake, we go together,” she says. “I look around for shredded snakeskin to identify the particular species of snake at a location. My husband then looks around in the neighbouring bushes and holes to spot the snake. Once we locate it, I distract the snake and make it move towards my husband who waits with a stick. Together, we make sure that the snake is caught but does not get hurt or traumatised.”
Like Shanti, at least 100 women belonging to the Irula tribe are members of the Irula Snake-Catchers Industrial Cooperative Society and help their husbands with the job. Most of these people have been catching snakes and other small rodents for centuries.
“It is the only job we know,” says Kamala, another member. “I caught my first snake when I was four years old and I can trap even a King Cobra better than my husband,” she says.
Before the society was formed, the Irula tribals killed snakes for their skin. “I remember my father taking me and my brothers into the jungle even as three- or four-year-olds and teaching us about the behaviour and features of different varieties of snakes. They had good knowledge of the skin types too and which skin was suitable for what purpose,” says Shanti.
With the change in Wildlife Act during the 70s, killing snakes became an offence and the Irulas became criminals for something they had been doing for a living for generations. It was then the concept of a cooperative society was born and an alternative livelihood was identified for the tribals without violating any wildlife laws. Over the years, the society grew and the members became more aware of the importance of snakes in the biodiversity of a forest.
“Today, the guidelines are clear. The snakes should be caught without injury and after the venom is extracted a few times, the reptile must be released into the forest for rest and recuperation,” says chief wildlife warden R. Sundarraju. “We are quite certain that most snakes that are let off into the wild survive the trauma and start generating venom a few weeks later.”
“We intimate the government on the number of snakes that can be caught every year based on the demand for venom,” he adds.
Last year, the wildlife authorities had sanctioned the capture of 8,000 snakes while it has reduced by half this year due to lack of sales.
“Every year we make a fresh government order which the society follows,” Mr Sundarraju says.
With the survival of ISCICS in question, a way of living practiced by these tribals for generations is under threat of extinction.
Snake-catchers may be out of a job soon