THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: AS Harshad, a 45-year-old reptile keeper at the Thiruvananthapuram Zoo, died of a king cobra bite on Thursday afternoon.
The incident happened when the Kattakada native was cleaning the enclosure of the king cobra during the noon interval.
A senior Zoo official told The New Indian Express that Harshad cleaned the king cobra’s enclosure during noon intervals, 12 pm–2 pm, which led the authorities to come to know of the incident only later. “There are three king cobras, one female, and two males, lodged in two enclosures.
Harshad had put one of the snakes in the rear enclosure while he cleaned the front enclosure. We suspect that Harshad was bitten by the deadly reptile when he was removing the excreta from the rear enclosure with his hands. He was found paralysed inside the enclosure after a while”, said a senior Zoo official.
Harshad was immediately shifted to the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College hospital. But doctors confirmed that he was brought dead. He had recently recuperated from Covid-19.
Harshad grew amidst snakes and animals as his family was running a street circus troupe across the State for several decades. His body has been kept at the mortuary and will be brought to the Thiruvananthapuram Zoo on Friday for the staff to pay their respects.
The Wildlife Protection Act of 1972, which has been implemented strictly since the mid '90s, sounded the death knell for Harshad’s family business. His association with animals and snakes led him to apply for a keeper job at the city Zoo in 2002. After two years, the then Zoo authorities entrusted him to take care of the deadly reptiles which he has dutifully been discharging, including taking care of the seven green anacondas.
Zoo officials have always praised the dedication shown by Harshad in taking care of the deadly snakes. There have been days when he would work for close to 12 hours a day and sometimes more. Harshad leaves behind his wife and two children.
It was after a long battle Harshad had managed to get his job permanent during 2017 after putting in more than 15 years of working as a daily wager. During 2015, Harshad had landed in a soup when he locked himself in the king cobra enclosure where the deadly snakes ignored him much to the relief of the authorities, in a mark of protest for not making his job permanent. But this time around, while discharging his duties he was bitten by the same snake.