CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu forest department will shortly form an expert committee to streamline the entire snake venom trade. The Irula Snake Catchers’ Industrial Co-operative Society, located on the outskirts of Chennai, has been the one-stop destination for anti-snake serum manufacturers to buy snake venom. However, for the past few years, the stock and sales dwindled because of delays caused by the State government and forest department in issuing permits to catch snakes and sell venom.
After TNIE published a report on Friday highlighting the ongoing struggle of the Irula society, Chief Wildlife Warden Shekhar Kumar Niraj scheduled a meeting with representatives of the society on Monday to sort out the issues.
Niraj said the expert committee will be formed in the first week of April. “So far, the forest department has been arbitrarily fixing the number of snakes to be captured for venom extraction and quantum of sales.”
The committee, with herpetologists, a trade expert, and socio-economic expert, will generate datasets on snake population density and venom demand. “In a couple of months, we will also digitise the approval process. The Irula society can apply online, and the committee will evaluate and make recommendations to the forest department,” Niraj said.
In November 1994, the Madras High Court, after taking into account the ecology, species conservation, and livelihood of Irulas, allowed capturing of 3,000 spectacled cobras, 1,500 common kraits, 1,500 Russell’s vipers, and 7,000 saw-scaled vipers annually to extract venom.
However, the forest department didn’t let them catch so many snakes. The highest in the last decade was 8,300. In 2020-21, the department allowed capturing of just 5,000 snakes, and the government order was issued just three days before the end of the financial year, due to which the Irulas could only capture 2,930 snakes.
The forest department’s argument is that too much extraction would degrade biodiversity. Irulas are only allowed to catch snakes from non-forest areas, such as agriculture fields, in Chennai, Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur districts. “With real estate taking over agriculture fields, we suspect there aren’t enough snakes in the wild,” a forest official said. However, Irulas say there are enough snakes and they release all of them back into the wild after venom extraction.