Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh): Over two dozen snake charmers were caught with more than 50 snakes as they flouted the Wildlife Protection Act and displayed snakes door-to-door on the occasion of Nag Panchami, on Monday in Jabalpur. These snake charmers, carrying snakes in bamboo baskets, reached the trains and buses to extract the money from people on the pretext of rituals.
Taking strict action, the forest department has registered a case against the snake charmers under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act and seized their snakes.
More than 50 snakes seized
Forester Gulab Singh, posted in the Forest Department, said that on the day of Nag Panchami, dozens of snake charmers come to Jabalpur city and then go and perform with snakes. In the morning, the Forest Department team was ready to take action. Action was taken in rural areas including Jabalpur Railway Station, Bus Stand, Adhartal Ranjhi. By catching more than 2 dozen snake charmers, they seized more than 50 snakes from them.
According to the forester, snake charmers catch the snakes of the forests and then they are kept hungry and thirsty for many days. Not only this, snake charmers extract poison by breaking the teeth of snakes. And then demonstrations are carried out by going from village to village and door to door.
Snake charmers remove snake's venom teeth
The Forest Department said that during today's operation many rare snakes have been caught from the snake charmers. Most of the snakes were more than 5 feet long, seeing which one can get scared. During interrogation, the snake charmers said that this is their ancestral work and has been going on for generations. After catching snakes, snake charmers used to remove their venomous teeth too so that there is no danger.
The Forest Department team will now take the snakes caught from snake charmers to the Veterinary College for treatment and then after treatment they will be released in the forest.
