Mumbai cop on a mission to rescue snakes
Jadhav told The Indian Express, “The snakes normally come from construction sites, especially where the Metro lines are being laid. The holes they dig happen to be snake habitats and when their natural habitat gets disturbed, they meander out in search of a new territory and prey.”
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Murlidhar Jadhav gets four to five distress calls daily regarding snakes.
Rescue operations form a part of training for police constables but for Murlidhar Jadhav (31) these operations have not been limited to humans. He has been rescuing snakes for about a decade, while continuing his policing duties. BAttached to the Kurla police station, Jadhav receives at least four to five distress calls every day at the police control room. Calls are made from all over Mumbai and the numbers increase up to 10-15 per day during monsoon. The callers usually face reptiles creeping into their offices, homes or recreation spaces.
Jadhav told The Indian Express, “The snakes normally come from construction sites, especially where the Metro lines are being laid. The holes they dig happen to be snake habitats and when their natural habitat gets disturbed, they meander out in search of a new territory and prey.” Jadhav learnt the technique of snake rescue from a wildlife warden at his village near Jalgaon district in Maharashtra where he was bitten by a cobra at the age of eight. He was unconscious for several days and it was the village wildlife warden who suggested an effective treatment.
Since his snake bite, he has been interested in snake-catching and he rescued his first cobra when he was only nine years old. After joining Mumbai Police in 2007, he rediscovered his passion and claims to have rehabilitated over 3,000 snakes till date. “I ensure the safety of snakes by handing them over to the forest department,” he said.
Additionally, he tries to educate people on first aid and snake habitations. Expressing his enthusiasm for rescuing snakes, he said: “Although I don’t specifically get paid for it, I like doing it: it’s not just people’s lives that I am saving, it is also a snake’s. I feel content and relieved.”
Having read extensively on the reptiles, Jadhav is an expert at identifying snake species. “People replicate what they see on television shows and attempt to catch snakes but don’t know how to identify whether they are venomous or not. For instance, Russell’s Vipers are extremely hemotoxic and kill a lot of people in India. They look like non-venomous pythons, so people try catching them but get bitten,” he added.
S Jayakumar, Additional Commissioner of Police (Central region) said, “On deputation, he is now made to sit in the control room. Every time a distress call is made, he immediately attends to it.” Recognising Jadhav’s efforts, the Mumbai Police gave him a bike to travel all over Mumbai for snake rescue. He believes that besides the assistance provided by NGOs, more citizens need to be trained to rescue snakes.
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