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.
