Have you spotted a snake? Herpetologist Nirmal U Kulkarni shares tips on how to deal with this situation

Last update:October 24, 2024, 2:41 pm EST

Nirmal U Kulkarni began his intensive learning process by interning with other senior conservationists and volunteering on company projects.

Nirmal U. Kulkarni shares his snake safety tips. (Representative image)

Nirmal U. Kulkarni, a well-known figure in the Indian wildlife conservation field and a talented writer, shares the story of his transformation from a snake-catching schoolboy to a worthy wildlife conservationist. Raised in Goa in the mid-1990s, Nirmal Kulkarni became a local celebrity when his ability to catch snakes was noticed in the 8th or 9th grade. In an exclusive interview with Moneycontrol, Kulkarni shared his journey and the importance of education in raising awareness about wildlife.

Snake problems were more common back then, and word of his ability to handle snakes and evict them from homes spread like wildfire. But when he was in 12th grade, a tragic incident occurred when he was bitten by a cobra while he was showing the reptile to his friends. “The bite was excruciatingly painful,” Kulkarni told a news portal.

Then ecologist Claude Alvares and another mentor forced him to take wildlife conservation seriously or give up altogether. Kulkarni chose the former even though there were no specialist degrees in wildlife conservation in India at that time.

Determined, Kulkarni began an intensive apprenticeship learning process with other senior conservationists and volunteered on company projects. He traveled further into the forests of India to install camera traps, which was a fairly new technique at the time. These experiences inspired him to publish Eye to I with My First Tiger, which follows the adventures of two teenagers, Nandu and Salu, reflecting Kulkarni’s own formative experiences.

During the interview, Kulkarni emphasized the need for snake species recognition and awareness in India. “Most people in India will encounter a snake at some point in their lives,” he said. As it turns out, there are over 354 species of snakes in the country, of which nearly 50 are venomous, so it is worth knowing how to behave if you encounter such a snake. This means, according to Kulkarni, that “if you see a snake, back away slowly to give it space to leave.” He mentioned that snakes tend to detect human presence before they detect reptiles and evade easily.

Snake sightings on the Jabalpur-Mumbai train and on the Jharkhand to Goa train have worried passengers recently. According to Kulkarni, the public should not try to use home remedies for snake bites and instead appealed for people to seek medical attention as soon as possible, believing that identifying the type of snake is of little importance. “Doctors focus on the type of venom – neurotoxic or hemotoxic – and not on the species itself,” he explained in the publication.

The conservationist also delved into the environmental impacts of waste management in urban areas. Kulkarni mentioned that garbage excites rodents and also snakes. Waste disposal and composting are important factors in controlling human-snake conflicts, especially in urban areas.

Referring to legal and ethical activities such as collecting snake venom for recreational purposes, Kulkarni criticized these “venom parties”. He described the suffering of the reptiles and stated: “The snakes endure severe pain and trauma during these procedures.” He also noted that handling snakes is more dangerous in such circumstances, raising concerns that people will accidentally overdose on the venom.