Madurai: "When we started snake rescue operations some 20 years ago, we used to get an average 30 rescue calls from public in a day but we hardly get three calls per day at present. Snakes are disappearing at an alarming rate," says R Sagadevan, a snake rescuer from wildlife NGO, Urvanam in Tirunagar in Madurai. Sagadevan and his colleague P R Viswanath conducted a snake awareness workshop at the American College on Monday.
Green Club of the American College organised the workshop whose objective was to create awareness among students so that they don't harm snakes upon spotting them in the vicinity but alert wildlife officials for their rescue. The snake experts dealt on topics like importance of snakes in the eco-system, venomous/non-venomous snakes, first-aid in case of snake bite and handling the reptiles. They had brought with them the Indian cobra, Indian rat snake, Russel's viper and green vine snake to explain their characteristics and demonstrate their handling.
On the sidelines of the workshop, Sagadevan said from their experience they feel that snake population is dwindling because agriculture activities on which lot of snake species depend upon are decreasing over the period. For instance, Indian rat snake is called a farmers' friend because it consumes rats at high proportion reducing rat menace in agriculture fields.
Rapid habitat loss is another major reason for snakes disappearing from the locality. Among the usually spotted venomous snakes in the district they don't come across saw-scaled viper any more. A lot of water snakes have disappeared too and the ones rescued during helpline calls are from septic tanks of the households, Sagadevan explained warning that snakes disappearing from eco-system will have a serious impact.
A lot of superstitions on snakes have been created in the past with the intention of protecting them because they were crucial for agriculture. However, the same superstitions have endangered them. They are feared though most of snakes are non-venomous and eliminated, the duo told students.
Principal of the college, M Davamani Christober welcomed the gathering. Ranger Officers from Madurai forest division, R Saravanakumar and S Arumugam participated the event. Around 500 students from Green Club participated. Secretary of Green Club, M Rajesh urged students to call snake rescuers to help spot snakes and sensitise public about the reptiles.
