Study under way to track snake bite-prevalent areas

The centre is collecting the data from rural Tamil Nadu and six other states, including Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Orissa, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra, as part of a nationwide programme to reduce snake bite deaths in India. 

“Every year, about 50,000 people die of snake bites in the country and this can be brought down by 90 per cent by adopting easy means,” said herpetologist and Chennai snake park founder Romulus Whitaker.

He added that people living in rural areas are the most vulnerable to snake bites and just by using torchlights in the dark, keeping the area free from rodents and clearing dry leaves regularly, encounters with the reptile can be reduced drastically. 

Whitaker, popularly known as the snake man of India said that more than 70 per cent of the snake bite victims in the country are farmers. “We are trying to use All India Radio and other radio stations to reach the remote areas where the incidence of snake bite is higher,” Whitaker said.

A Kumaraguru, a conservation scientist from Biodiversity Conservation Foundation said, “There is no concrete data on snake bites on a micro level. We need more data from states like Tamil Nadu and Kerala which are vulnerable to snake bites.” He added that the governments should support such programmes particularly during monsoon as the incidence of snake bites increases during the rain. 

Kumaraguru said that snake bites do not get the kind of attention that it deserves as people are more likely to die of a snake bite than of zoonotic infections like rabies, plague, rat fever and swine flu.

Under the ongoing programme, short films on how to avoid encounters with snakes are about to be released in seven local languages for the masses, said Allwin Jessudasan, assistant director of Madras Crocodile Bank.