
09/08/2025
Recalling the September 27th, 2024 Incident: A Battle for a Snake's Life, an awareness post..
It was around 5:30 PM, and I was walking towards the Lingarajapuram bus stand to catch a bus to my office. I noticed a snake charmer going from shop to shop, collecting funds and keeping a snake, a cobra, on display.
Immediately, my instincts told me I needed to rescue the snake, as I know how cruel these snake charmers are. They poach snakes, brutally remove their fangs and venom sacks, and often kill them.
Based on my past experiences, I've found that the urban wildlife authority is often a scam in most urban cities. There's no one to control these crimes; they simply collect salaries while further destroying wildlife in the name of conservation. My next point of contact was the forest department, another useless and toothless department that is often more corrupt than our regular police. Time was ticking, and I had to report to the office at 6:30 PM. I immediately called the Hoysala and Banaswadi police; the Hoysala van arrived in 10 minutes.
Until the police arrived, I engaged the snake charmer. I even paid her a little money to get a closer look at the snake's condition—its fangs and venom sack had been completely removed. I convinced the police over the phone that the snake needed to be rescued and sent to PFA (People for Animals) for treatment.
Finally, the police arrived and asked the woman to sit in the Hoysala van to take her to the police station.
At this point, the public, who knew nothing about snakes, started to see me as a villain. By a slip of the tongue, I quoted, "Keeping a snake is illegal as per the 1972 Wildlife Protection Act, and she could be jailed or fined," which immediately caused the snake charmer woman to fall at my feet, pleading for forgiveness. I requested her not to do that, reminding her she was an elderly woman, and I remained polite, soft-spoken, and humble, assuring her that we were just going to the police station and the snake would be given to PFA for treatment. She obeyed and sat in the police van, but a mob of 17-20 people started attacking us, including the police, banging on the van's window shutters.
One guy began using profanity and threatened to "fix" me if I showed up in the locality again. I immediately signaled the police to take off quickly to escape from the situation. They started filming me as we were leaving, to portray me as a villain and spread the video in their WhatsApp groups, alerting their rowdy, illiterate members to look out for me.
After we reached the police station, the snake charmer started crying and was genuinely panicked. The police had no clue about the Wildlife Protection Act, or perhaps they pretended not to. According to protocol, the police should have involved the forest department to arrest her.
There were a few KRS party workers there who also saw me as a villain just because I was trying to protect a snake. Finally, the PFA manager, Nawaz sir, whom I respect and admire so much, sent Anand, who had previously assisted me in rescuing a parakeet from an astrologer in a similar incident.
I left the Banaswadi police station around 8 PM without filing any formal complaint, as I don't believe in dominating the weak. At that point, I felt the snake charmer would have realized how dangerous her profession could be and would hopefully quit.
But if we take a closer look, these snake-related crimes are happening on a much larger scale across the country, especially in rural areas.
So, whom do we blame?
1) The cruel snake charmers?
2) A public that is so superstitious and illiterate that they fund these snake charmers?
3) The Forest Department and wildlife authorities who receive significant grants and salaries only to indulge in the dereliction of their duties?
4) The lack of awareness and knowledge gaps—is our education system failing to produce anything but superstitious bots?
5) The animal welfare organizations who can't think beyond dogs and celebrate on social media when someone feeds milk to snakes, without realizing the snake is in its last moments without fangs and unable to digest the milk, destined to die a miserable death?
And recently, we had the Nag Panchami festival. I am a Hindu by birth as per my caste certificate, and I oppose the act of pouring or wasting milk on soil or idols. It's a sheer waste.
Even if Nag Devta exists, I must have earned his blessings for saving that snake and ensuring its treatment. In fact, the snake recovered in two months and was successfully released back into its natural habitat.
Reference video:
https://youtube.com/shorts/FZ5grIy6BVM?si=i1eyuow7UGWiI-ZO
Best memories,
Ram Kumar B K
088848 33878
ramkumarbk@gmail.com