On World Snake Day, meet the king cobra rescue team working in Andhra’s Eastern Ghats region

Eastern Ghats Wildlife Society has rescued 35 king cobras in North AP under its King Cobra Conservation project in collaboration with AP State Forest Department

July 16, 2021 04:41 pm | Updated 06:00 pm IST

All lives matter Murthy Kantimahanti Special Arrangement

All lives matter Murthy Kantimahanti Special Arrangement

Murthy Kantimahanti stands still, almost lifeless, as he stares at the 13-foot king cobra ahead of him. The cobra's forked tongue flicks while Murthy takes a snake hook in one hand and catches the tail of the snake. It twitches agitatedly as the reptile coils the tail around Murthy's arm. A group of villagers stand at a distance across the green agricultural fields under the hot afternoon sun at Cheedikada village in Visakhapatnam district. Located about 60 kilometres from Visakhapatnam, Murthy has come to rescue the king.

"King cobras are shy and avoid humans whenever possible," says Murthy, the founder of Eastern Ghats Wildlife Society (EGWS). Over the past five years, EGWS managed to rescue 35 king cobras in the Eastern Ghats of North Andhra Pradesh under its King Cobra Conservation and Human-Snake Conflict mitigation project. In collaboration with the AP State Forest Department, the project has covered 40 villages for human-snake conflict mitigation programmes and capacity building initiatives in Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts.

Habitat destruction

The rapid destruction of their natural habitat and overwhelming rates of human-snake conflict (snake-bite incidences) have posed a big threat to the king cobra, the world’s longest venomous snake, that has been listed as ‘vulnerable’ in the IUCN Red List since 2010. "The vastness of the landscape in the Eastern Ghats and bordering villages; the lack of trained snake rescuers to cover more areas; the pandemic-induced restrictions and barriers which slowed down our conservation outreach programmes and breaking rigid belief systems among older generations are some of the major hurdles in the conservation of king cobras," Murthy points out, on World Snake Day which is observed globally on July 16.

"King cobras predominantly feed on other snakes and play a vital role in maintaining an ecological balance. However, the species is indiscriminately killed in the North Eastern Ghat region," he adds.

Over the past five years, the EGWS has been tirelessly working in close collaboration with the Forest Department to provide on-the-ground solutions to mitigate man-animal conflict. Under its king cobra conservation project, as many as 18 amateur snake handlers were given professional training and snake rescue equipment for the safe rescue of snakes from human habitations.

"Apart from king cobras, the Eastern Ghats of Andhra Pradesh are home to some rare and uncommon species like Forsterns’ cat snake (different colour morphs), montane trinket snake, scarce bridal snake, common bridal snake, yellow-green cat snake, bamboo pit viper and slender coral snake. Identification of snake species is a key element in snake conservation," says Murthy, who was awarded as a Disney Conservation Hero last year by Walt Disney's Disney Conservation Fund for his snake conservation work in the Eastern Ghats. Under the snake conservation project of EGWS, around 400 personnel from the state forest, fire and police departments were trained in the identification of local snake species and snakebite management. Snake awareness programmes were also held in more than 50 rural and urban schools.

"Along with Andhra Pradesh Forest Department, we have also collaborated with Madras Crocodile Bank Trust, Agumbe Rainforest Research Station, Sakaerat Snake Conservation Team in Thailand and other like-minded organizations as knowledge partners and for technical support for the ongoing project activities," says Murthy.

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