BENGALURU: With the snake breeding and hatching season in full swing from June to August, wildlife wardens and rescuers are getting nearly 100 calls daily. There are only seven rescuers for the five city corporations and over 90 percent of complaints are not attended to.
The rescuers fear that the public may end up killing snakes out of fear.
“For every corporation, there should be at least four rescuers. Except for West City Corporation and South City Corporation with two rescuers, East, North and Central City Corporations have only one rescuer each, making it impossible to attend to all the rescue calls. We get around 100 calls a day, a rescuer can hardly attend 10 to 15 calls and the rest are not covered, and we suspect that due to fear of safety, the public will kill snakes when spotted,” said a senior wildlife warden.
The big concern is with spotting snake breeds like spectacled cobra, the common krait, and the Russell’s Viper, which are venomous and responsible for the majority of snakebite cases.
“Each of these species is highly poisonous and known to attack the nervous system, impact breathing, cause excess internal bleeding, tissue damage and kidney failure among victims. Even a small and new hatchling of a cobra species has venom that can kill at least 10 persons,” said a senior rescuer from Bengaluru West City Corporation.
The GBA wildlife team has advised the callers not to disturb the reptile when spotted and urged them to remain calm and wait for assistance or help instead of handling such reptiles themselves. “We ask the people to keep the surroundings clean, and when such a creature is spotted, better to ignore and remain at a safe distance, as snakes will go away in case the rescuers cannot arrive on time.”
Apart from the staff shortage, there is also an issue of pending honorarium of Rs 18,000 from the last six months, and the request from the staff to enhance the amount of Rs 35,000 per head in a file sent to concerned officials has been gathering dust. “If the GBA considers our request and enhances the monthly honorarium, we will be grateful as we take risks on a daily basis,” said a GBA wildlife warden.