Our volunteers take tremendous risks to safe guard the life of common man as well as the snakes.
- Snake Helpline rescue snakes from human habitation and rehabilitate them in nearest suitable natural habitats in association with local forest officials.
Snake Helpline is duly authorized to rescue and rehabilitate snakes and etc. by the PCCF (WL) and CWLW of Odisha.
The mobile numbers of the rescuers can be obtained by calling 9337295142.
- We have formulated the first occupational safety protocol in April 2017.
- The snakes are rehabilitated in their nearest suitable natural habitats out of human habitation areas as per the protocol
- The snakes are released back to wild within 12 hrs. of rescue if found with no apparent injuries.
Safety principles for snake rescuers:
✓ Wear ankle protected shoes and full pants.
✓ Carry along all the handling equipment, bags, torch etc.
✓ Obey the traffic rules while driving.
✓ Rescue the snake only when there is a clear case of conflict between the snake and humans or domestic animals.
✓ Avoid alcohol and any other materials of intoxication.
✓ Avoid wearing rings and other limb adorning ornaments (LAO) as they can lead to potentially dangerous complication in case of venomous snake bite.
✓ Do not perform any stunt with snakes.
Handle snakes with care:
✓ Use snake hooks and tongs in a humane manner so as to give minimum stress to the snake.
✓ Do not use smaller sized plastic bottles or jars.
✓ Do not use ‘killer’ tongs with lock & key mechanism. These tongs will surely damage the delicate vertebrae of the snake.
Try to avoid –
✓ Avoid head gripping of snakes as far possible.
✓ Never disturb a snake in the wild or in places where there is no human habitation or movement.
✓ Avoid snake to snake contact. Follow the ‘one snake, one bag’ rule.
✓ Avoid curious handling of dead snakes. A dead snake can deliver a single bite through reflex action of the muscles.
Care for the crowd:
✓ Try to disperse crowd and ask people maintain a safe distance and give space for rescue.
✓ Keep the pets away if present from the rescue area which may cause distraction.
✓ Don’t allow bystanders to handle any snake.
✓ Don’t allow selfie with snakes.
Relocation:
✓ The snakes should be released within 12 hrs. of the rescue.
✓ The optimal release time for most diurnal animals is approximately one hour after dawn and for most nocturnal animals is approximately one hour after dusk.
✓ If the snake is already confined in a bottle by public, don’t let the plastic litter the environment while releasing.
✓ Snakes must not be released into a national park/sanctuary unless the snake is earlier encountered in the national park.
✓ Do not release snakes while humans are around. People will vehemently oppose and rescuers face law and order situation in Odisha.
