Karnataka - Tumkur   

Workshop on snakes in Tumkur

Staff Correspondent

TUMKUR: A workshop on snakes conducted by Wildlife Aware Nature Club at Siddaganga College for Women here on Tuesday questioned beliefs that snakes consumed milk, snakes had precious gems and that snakes kept guard of treasure.

The nature club president, B.V. Gundappa, said nearly 50,000 persons died of snakebite in the country every year.

Another two lakh persons survived of snakebite. "It is established that the victims died of fear and anxiety rather than of poison,'' he said. "Only 170 species of snakes are found in the country of the over 2,700 species that exist in the world. All but one or two species are categorised as non-poisonous snakes,'' he said.

"As much as 28 per cent of the crop raised in India is destroyed by rats. In the past, snakes controlled the growth of rats. People then spared snakes from killing. They rather worshipped them. They knew the importance of snakes in guarding their crops from rats,'' Mr. Gundappa said.

Sachidananda Murthy, college principal, inaugurated the workshop.

Renukappa, head of the college's pre-graduate wing, presided over the inaugural function.

Resource persons Amin Ahmed, Mahesh, Prasanna Kumar and Chandrashekar Upadhyaya demonstrated how to handle snakes.

A large number of people from 10 taluks of the district attended the workshop.

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