Crocodile Dandy

 

 

Snake love

Almost all children are initially fascinated by reptiles and snakes; it’s the parents who freak them out. In my case, I have a mother who was extremely supportive and just as fascinated as I was with snakes. And the advantage I had was that we lived in a place where there were no venomous snakes (northern NY State). By the time I was four-five years old, I was bringing snakes home. And the encouragement she gave and buying me children’s books on snakes was what set the ball rolling.

Stint abroad

I came to India (Bombay) with my mother and Indian stepfather and then went abroad for my studies. I was a merchant sea-man; a waiter, did all kinds of American odd-jobs, but the professional aspect of my career really started when I worked for the Miami Serpentarium (MS). There’s a guy there – now 95-97 yrs old and still handling snakes – Bill Haast, who had at one time the biggest venom production centre in the world. It was basically a combination of a reptile exhibit like Croc Bank, but also a venom production centre, which is like the Irula Co-operative. We were all snake catchers. We were like the “white tribals.” Except we went out in cars. I learnt how to extract venom, process venom, and learnt about the market for venom and that’s what I taught the Irulas here.

On staying on in India

I grew up here and I felt much more at home than anywhere else. I think the challenge and interest of working with reptiles here was much more than in the US. While there are thousands of people doing it there, in India when I set up the Snake Park in ’69, there were only the tribals doing it and the snake charmers. Now though, snake rescuers are there aplenty – my friend Anees Mohammed in Bangalore, Snake Park in Mysore, Gerry Martin – large range of people interested in snakes as compared to those days. My peer group was the Irulas and they taught me a lot about stuff in the field. I might have taught them how to process venom, but they taught me all about how to find snakes which is a good thing for any budding herpetologist. Initial struggles and challenges

There were many, starting with the language and the idea itself being unfamiliar. But then people like Bhoja Shetty in the Department of Wildlife in Chennai, and their encouragement and interest in the project did help matters.

Snake and crocs in the ecosystem

Rodents are the bane of an agricultural economy; polishing off up to 20 percent of agricultural produce and that is where snakes help. They feed on rats and mice and do a great favour to the economy.

As for crocs, they are fish eaters. They are the friends of fishermen, feeding on big fish that eat up small fish - which are a fisherman’s livelihood. Crocs in danger

There are three species of crocs endemic to India – Muggers, Salt Water crocs, and the Gharial. The adaptable Mugger can live just about anywhere. The Salties are found in marshy conditions, and are found in Orissa, the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Nicobar Islands. They can comfortably consume a human whole. The Gharial prefers fresh water habitats like the river and is the most threatened. Fish-eaters that they are, fishermen consider them competition. Often they get entangled in fishing nets, and the fishermen are quick to chop off their snouts, following which they die a slow death. To add to their woes, the state of our rivers is nothing to write home about.

Mysterious Gharial deaths in Chambal Though it remains unsolved (in fact I was recently part of a meeting to discuss the probable causes), but that may have to do with the state of our rivers. The Ganga and the Yamuna are polluted beyond conception. The Chambal, being a tributary to the Ganga Basin has well partaken of the tons of refuse and toxins dumped into the river. It is suspected that all the bio-accumulation of toxins affected their kidneys. I won’t be surprised if the Yamuna catches fire one of these days! The government has pumped in crores of rupees towards clean-up efforts, but nobody knows where it has gone. Is there hope? Well, I can tell you Danube and Rhine were two of the most polluted rivers in the world. But if the earnest efforts of the respective governments and authorities could salvage those water bodies, then I can’t see why the Indian rivers could not be made healthy again, if only with some political will.

Role of a croc bank

Crocodile banks serve three purposes: one, they are crucial in creating awareness about the reptiles, and in helping people and children overcome their fear and misconceptions about the animals. Children, for instance, come here (Croc Bank) and hold a baby croc and understand that they're not out to get them…

Secondly, the Bank acts as a fine gene pool, for conservation purposes. Thirdly, it is also a research base for field biologists to study the herps. Here, with the Irula Co-operative in the premises, the Irulas prove to be significant contributors to field studies. They get to use their skill sets productively in the highly paying process of venom-extraction (venom sells for INR 20,000 per milligram) and it makes for entirely legal and viable livelihood options.

Harvesting to conserve

Until the locals are made to understand ‘what’s-in-it-for-me’, any attempt at conservation is bound to come a cropper. To a villager, his produce is more important than the life of a wild creature. I remember an instance when villagers had put up a live wire fence around an acre of wheat, which had overnight killed a nilgai and two other ungulates – for an acre of wheat! Croc farming is a good way to harvest crocs... at least the rest are safe.