08 September,2017 08:22 PM IST | Mumbai | Ranjeet Jadhav
Dombivli's Bharat Kene was notorious for performing stunts with snakes, had been warned against it
Bharat Kene, an infamous snake rescuer from Dombivli, who allegedly used to perform stunts using snakes, died on Thursday after he was bitten by a venomous spectacled cobra.
A snake rescuer from the area, who did not wish to be named, said, "Bharat used to love snakes and hence would help rescue them. However, one mistake he always made was not using safety measures while rescuing them. On Thursday, Bharat was bitten by a venomous cobra and died in hospital while undergoing treatment."
After Bharat was bitten, his friends immediately informed his family members and rushed him to hospital. He was first taken to a hospital at Dombivli West where the doctors told his friends to immediately shift him to Thane Civil Hospital as his condition was critical. It is said that Bharat died before he could reach Thane.
Vaibhav Kulkarni from NGO Nisarg Vidnyan Sanstha, Dombivli, said, "It is unfortunate that Bharat Kene had to lose his life because of a cobra bite. We don't know the circumstances under which the incident happened, but I would like to appeal to all snake rescuers to take proper precautions while rescuing snakes."
In November last year, experts working in the field of herpetology and snake conservation had even appealed to Bharat and other rescuers to stop doing stunts with snakes as it could prove to be dangerous. Bharat had allegedly even got into an argument with the experts on social networking site over this.
It should be noted that in the last 12 years, more than 30 snake rescuers have died in Maharashtra from snake bites.
