For God’s snake!

On the occasion of Nag Panchami, snake lovers capture 74 snakes exploited cruelly by ‘charmers'

On Monday, volunteers from the Akaash Group caught 74 snakes from various snake catchers around the city and handed them over to the forest department, who later released them into the wild.

Most snakes had their mouths stitched; they were later released into the wild

Several social organisations working for the ethical treatment of animals urged citizens to discourage snake shows and atrocities against reptiles by reporting snake charmers to authorities.

Head of the Akaash Group Akash Shinde said his team, comprising 25 youth, fanned across the city and seized around 74 snakes from ‘snake charmers’.

“Most of them were kept in wooden cases and gasping for breath. Many had their lips stitched up or glued together. Other superstitions followed by people involve feeding the snakes milk, which is not at all their natural diet.”

Activist Anil Avchite said he found a mere fifteen-day-old snake in the custody of one charmer. “The reptile had painful, crude stitches on its lips, which I removed with much difficulty. It was later released into the wild.”

“We appeal to the public to inform us or the forest department if they see such serpents made to ‘perform’ by snake charmers,” added Shinde.

According to the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972, it is a crime for snake charmers to capture and exploit snakes for commercial purposes, or even own them.

As per Section 11, Sub Section 1 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, it is illegal to torture or cause unnecessary pain to an animal, wilfully and unreasonably administer any injurious substance to it, keep or confine it to a cage or any other receptacle that does not give it a reasonable opportunity for movement.

Range forest office for Pune region issued a release on Monday evening thanking the activists, and requested the public to file a complaint under various acts to prevent cruelty in the name of tradition.

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