Coimbatore: After the cleaning programme on World Environment Day, a snake safety awareness programme was organised at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University.
A lecture demonstration on snake safety was presented by A. Selvaraju, project coordinator, national snake bite initiative, Green Cross India, an NGO based on wildlife conservation. His project was honoured with the prestigious youth award in Mumbai. There are totally 3,000 species of snakes in the world out of which 276 species are found in India. Of them, 62 are poisonous (42 in land and water, 20 in oceans) while 171 are non- poisonous.
As many as, 80,000 people die of snake bites in India. About 10,000 victims die due to improper first-aid and medication. Australia has more poisonous snakes than India, but only 10 per cent of them who suffer bites lose their lives. This is because of availability of proper treatment in Australia, he said.
The four major poisonous snakes are the Indian king cobra, Russell’s viper, the common krait and the saw-scaled viper. “The common krait does not leave any biting symptoms. The venom of the snake is meant not for biting the victims, but to inactivate their prey and digest. The venom of king cobra and Russell’s viper affects the nervous system and causes neurosis” he added. The symptoms of disease are death of tissue, teeth markings. By keeping our environment clean and spraying Bellary onion extract, snakes can be avoided from entering.
