'Rescuers' bitten by snakes they were trying to catch in Mumbai

Ajay Pawar was bitten by the snake on his lip

Mumbai: No knowledge about snakes and mishandling them can backfire big time as two young men found out recently. While one got bitten on his face by a cobra while he attempted to kiss it on the head, the other got bitten on the hand while trying to grab the head of a Russel's Viper mistaking it for a python.

The first snake rescuer, Ajay Pawar alias AJ Pawar, from Panvel got bitten on his upper lip by a spectacled cobra on October 28 when he tried to kiss the snake on its hood in a show of dare devilry. He survived after he was rushed to Sion hospital and later taken to JJ hospital. An animal activist said, "Time and again he has been told to not do stunts with snakes. It is people like him who give snake rescuers a bad name. The forest department should now take action against such snake catchers."

In the other case, a local snake rescuer, Deepak Gupta, a resident of Bimbisar Nagar in Goregaoan East was bitten by a Russel's Viper. On October 27, around 10.30 pm, local residents saw a snake near their building. Gupta was called but he allegedly did not know much about snakes. He mistook it for an Indian Rock Python and got bitten when he grabbed the snake's head. "When he got bitten he let go of the snake, but again made a grab for it and was bitten again," said a resident, who did not wished to be named. Gupta was taken to the BMC-run Balasaheb Thackeray trauma centre in Jogeshwari West where he is recovering. A trained snake rescuer was then called and the snake was released back into the wild.

Deepak Gupta was bitten on his hand

Wildlife Conservationist, Herpetologist and photographer Kedar Bhide, said, "I have stopped thinking about why people do stunts while dealing with snakes. It has become a huge problem for the conservation movement. When snakes strike back against being mishandled, they get a bad name."