Previous Sunday, a friend told me,” hey! Didn’t you hear? Somebody had caught a juvenile rock python in a medical store.” And that happens to be near the place where I generally hang out with friends. So I rushed to the place to check out the buzz. But what I saw was unbelievable. A little Russells Viper was hissing inside a plastic jar!!!
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The jar was ventilated at the top portion by some small holes. So I figured out that they somehow captured it, put it inside the jar and made the holes for air circulation. That was a relief seeing people becoming aware about conservation. Because what I have witnessed till now is that people kill snake at the first opportunity. But what was more amusing was the expression on the face of the man when I told him that it was no Rock Python, rather it’s a extremely venomous Russells Viper. He was stunned. He said in disbelief, “how the hell did I capture it??”
It was a very beautiful, lively and healthy snake. I was too willing to have it for relocation. ‘cause that way I will be able to take some snaps of it at the time of releasing. But they said they had already called the Forest Dept. and the dept instructed them to hold the snake for the day as it was Sunday. They will come on Monday and take custody of the snake. The people from the medical store were okey with it. So I decided not to interfere with the workings of Forest Dept. but at the time of leaving I told them that if they for any reason don’t want to keep the snake anymore, I will be more than happy to help them deliver the snake to the Forest dept as I have contacts in there.
After that day, I completely forgot about the incident. On Friday evening, one of my friends who were related with the medical store asked me to take the snake. I was surprised ,” haven’t the officials taken the snake?” He said that not even a single phone call from them in the whole week. So in the next morning I bought the snake home and the next day released it in a suitable place.
Now what was most unnerving about the whole thing was the role of the Forest Dept. They are supposed to be there for the protection of wildlife and increasing awareness among people and here a snake is confined inside a small jar for a long week without food and water and fellow people are living uneasily around it. From this experience, the man who bothered to capture the snake alive and call the Forest Dept. would ever do the same again?? ‘cause now he knows the Dept. wouldn’t come and it will only increase his trouble. Instead of he will just kill and get rid of the snake. No law can protect wildlife if the people who are affected are made aware. Only because these kind of people who take extra pain-in-their-ass to save a life(wild) are there, the whole wildlife is not extinct altogether yet. So, three cheers for the one who saved a snake.
Natural history
Russells Viper is one of the most common snakes of India. Yet it is extra-ordinary in many ways. Russells Viper has got the largest fangs of all India vipers. The average size is about 16mm. Moreover it has two fangs on each side. The venom is haemotoxic i.e. it destroys blood and blood vessels. The common symptoms of biting are burning sensation and swelling at the bite site, extensive internal haemorrhage, pain, vomiting, bleeding from body orifices. Pressure drops significantly and pulse becomes weak. Though it is one of the four snakes responsible for most snake bite deaths in India, Russells Viper does not strike readily. It is generally sluggish and being heavily bodied viper, it is not reluctant to leave. So it inflates its body and hisses and when I say hisses, I mean hisses like a ‘pressure cooker’. It is so loud that if someone heard it he will never forget. Then the viper coils its body in a ‘S’ curve and sways its head side by side. And at last if all this warning and threat display falls in deaf ears, it strikes. And it strikes like a spring, faster than expected from a heavily bodied viper like this. It is usually nocturnal i.e. it hunts at night. So chances of bite are less. People often get bitten when they step on it at night. In daytime thorny bushes are its favorite resting place, so be careful. Although Russells Viper is venomous, it is not actually bad to protect them. The primary preys of it are rodents. Considering the damage rodents do to our crop production, it is actually doing a social work.
And a last word. May be Russells Viper is extremely venomous but timely and proper medical care can cure the victim properly. The death toll is high only because most of the people don’t seek proper medical attention in time from the lack of awareness.
