Government Dispute--Snake Charmers Threaten To Let Venomous Snakes Loose In Capitol

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Snake ‘Threat’ To Orissa House

Calcutta
Annoyed over curbs imposed on them by the wildlife department, the snake-charmers of Orissa today threatened to let loose hundreds of serpents in the capital.

They also threatened to release more than 5,000 snakes inside the Assembly during the coming winter session if the “harassment” did not stop.

Around 600 families of snake-charmers residing in a village on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar are on the verge of losing their livelihood with wildlife officials arresting some of their members for allegedly violating the Wildlife Protection Act.

“Our livelihood depends on catching snakes and displaying them in public. If it is stopped, what will we do?” asked Chittaranjan Das, head of Padmakesharpur village at a news conference here today.

“If our problems are not addressed, we’ll have no option but to release hundreds of snakes in the state capital and also inside the Assembly,” he warned.

“If keeping snakes is a crime, then why is no action taken against the government itself? It has kept reptiles in the Nandan Kanan zoo and also earns revenue for that,” Das argued.

The snake-charmers, who gathered here to protest against the alleged “harassment”, claimed that they never destroyed wildlife. Rather, they help increase the reptile population by arranging the mating of snakes during the breeding season. They also claimed to provide necessary treatment whenever the snakes fall sick.

“We worship them like our presiding deity and look after them like our children. We never catch snakes from a reserve forest or wildlife sanctuary. We catch poisonous snakes, which intrude into households, tend them in our homes and earn our livelihood by performing public shows,” they said.

A snake-charmer present at the news conference alleged that he was picked up by forest officials from a bus-stand in Cuttack on November 8. Later, the officials took his snakes and released them in the forest. They also made him give a written undertaking that he would henceforth not keep any snakes.

Das said five professional snake-charmers had been picked up by the forest staff from Bhubaneswar and Cuttack within a month and their snakes released in nearby Chandaka forest.

“How can we feed ourselves and the 5,000-odd snakes that we have,” the snake-charmers asked.