In India, since ancient times, snakes are supposed to be treated as gods. But since in cities snakes are very rare, many rural people come holding snakes in small, round baskets to show to make money. In this business the living conditions of the snakes becomes very bad. These "snake charmers" remove the teeth and fangs of snakes, keep them only in their baskets, even for feeding. In the basket, they vomit and pass stools.
Before the annual festival of Nagpanchmi, the charmers catch snakes from the fields and keep them hungry and thirsty for at least 10 days. On the festival day these snakes are exhibited and milk is force-fed. Many become very sick from it.
Boa constrictors are treated especially horribly: the snake charmers make 'eyes' and a 'mouth' by burning holes in their tails with a match. Then they put hot wax in those holes and claim that they have two heads.
Altogether, the festival of Nagpanchmi causes the deaths of more than 30,000 snakes each year in India.
During the most recent Nagpanchmi, our young team rescued 18 cobras, two rat snakes and two boa snakes. We began our raids on the snake charmers at six in the morning, and continued until nine o'clock at night. Other animal welfare organizations in Bombay rescued more then 600 snakes.
We gave first aid to the snakes we confiscated and the next day handed them over to the wildlife department. We were eventually able to release them in Borivali National Park, Bombay.
--Nilesh has been a vegetarian since birth and lives in Bombay, India where he does his "hardcore animal welfare activist" work. Read about the organization he started: PAWS.
