Wild side: Humans major threat to city’s hissing reptiles

Snakes are generally not dangerous and won’t attack if they’re not provoked. That’s why snake rescuers only capture snakes when they’re in the vicinity of your car, or, say, toilet, and you really have cause for discomfort. But once the snake has been grasped by the tail and goaded, with a hook, into a snake-bag — a breathable cotton sack whose darkness proves attractive — it’s released within just three kilometers at the nearest favourable site.

Common Krait. (Source: Sagar Pandhi)

That’s what is deemed safe according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s international guidelines on wildlife rescue and management. “After all, it’s we who have encroached on their habitat,” Sharma says. “But it’s strange — we love to see a python on television, but once it’s in our garden we lose all sense. We need to coexist with these animals.”

Surprisingly, according to Sharma, doctors and herpetologists would agree that many people who have been bitten don’t die because of the immediate effects of venom (sometimes, they die even when the snake is not venomous). Rather, they succumb to heart failure — they’ve literally been scared to death. “They probably see all snakes as cobras,” says Sharma. But even the Big Four, or the most common venomous snakes – the Spectacled Cobra, the Common Krait, Russell’s Viper, and the Saw Scaled Viper — are not likely to attack you. Neither are the semi-venomous Common Cart Snake, Common Vine Snake, or Forsten’s Cat Snake.

The more plentiful group of non-venomous snakes, that include the Common Sand Boa, Rat Snake, Wolf Snake, or Indian Rock Python, are of course completely harmless. Sharma has been rescuing snakes since he was thirteen. He’s 24 now. He laments the common misunderstandings between snakes and humans that happen time and time again. “There’s such a lack of human-reptile conflict management in Mumbai,” says Sharma. “When there’s a confrontation between a human and an elephant or tiger, victims are compensated. The attack is recorded. There’s nothing like that for snakes, and that’s why we don’t have much data on the problem.”

Saw-scaled Viper. (Source: Sagar Pandhi)

It’s demoralizing, says Sharma. “Even as the richest city in India, we have no centres that specialise in rescuing snakes, treating and rehabilitating them.” Even Sanjay Gandhi National Park only has a leopard rescue centre, even though there’s a high ratio of snakes recorded within the periphery of the park. And in the entire city, there isn’t a single full-time professional snake rescuer.

This lack of information and attention perpetuates negative stereotypes of what are actually fascinating, beautiful, and diverse creatures. Or, if you’re not willing to go that far, at least acknowledge that you’re a much bigger threat to them than they are to you.