Snake venom - Poison for snakes?

In India law prohibits any person from catching snakes for any purpose. But recently in the State of Maharashtra a decision seemingly opposite to it is taken by government by which snake -friends are permitted to catch the snakes, extract their venom and supply it to institutes who manufacture anti-venom from it. Surprisingly Minister for State - Forest Mr. Pachpute has taken initiative in it.

Though it seems a practical decision it is going to arouse a series of questions.

There are hundreds of snake-friends in Maharashtra who catch snakes only when they intrude homes, are either dangerous or there is possibility of them being killed and release them in the forest. They do it for a social cause, not from business point of view.

One gram of snake venom costs thousands of rupees and this price varies according to species of snake. After giving a free license to catch snakes and extract their venom for sale there is a danger that it will take a form of business, more and more snakes will be caught just to earn money. Though law says that snakes caught for this purpose should only belong to urban area, who is going to observe this as there is no tag of such kind attached to snakes.

Already human interference is too much in the ecosystem of forest and decision of such kind will increase it to a greater extent. Many species of the snake including Indian Egg eater, King Cobra are on the verge of extinct, probably many new names will come in it.

Its not only about extracting the snake venom; its purification, stability of its contents and its conversion into powder form are next important steps of making an anti-venom which is a very costly affair. Moreover there are no fixed guidelines regarding how many snakes one person can have, for how many days and when to leave them back in forests. The government can work as a vigilance authority in all this but it has made its mind to privatize this project.
It seems that hon'ble Minister has not consulted with experts in this field before initiating this.

Though there is really a deficiency of snake venom which is essential for manufacturing life saving anti-venom, this project should go into right direction and proper planning so as to conserve forests and its ecosystem. Till then we should unite to oppose it.

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