Chennai, tribal cooperative provides snakebite antidote
Until the seventies, the tribe of Irula hunted and sold the skins of snakes. With the ban of the practice, the tribe risked being left without a livelihood. The poisonous serum is injected into horses, which produce a natural antidote. Around 46 thousand Indians die each year from snakebites.
Chennai (AsiaNews / Agencies) - In Chennai a tribal cooperative has revolutionized the treatment of snakebite in India, producing an antidote to the poisonous serum. The Irula people, in the southern part of the country, have handed down for generations the knowledge to hunt snakes and extract the poison, which is then sold to hospitals all over the country.
India has the highest rate in the world of deaths caused by snake bites. There are around 244 species and the most dangerous are four: cobra, krait (or common Bungaro), Russell viper and rostrate-scaled viper. According to a 2011 study, around 46 thousand Indians die each year, many of whom cannot even reach the hospital.
The Irula cooperative, born in the seventies thanks to American entrepreneur Rom Whitaker and then passed under government control, has become crucial to saving thousands of lives. Previously, until 1972, the tribes hunted snakes and resold the skins. After the ban of the practice, the tribals were in danger of losing their main source of income, but they managed to readjust their skills.
The Tamil Nadu government granted the cooperative a license of one month, during which employees can track down the vipers scattered in the fields and lock them up in earthenware pots. In that month they are allowed to extract venom from each specimen for a maximum of four times, before releasing them back into the wild. After removing the serum, the substance is injected into horses, which produce a suitable antigen for all types of bite.
It's a risky job, but members of the community perform it in a mechanical way and without much concern. For instance Kali and Vedan, two hunters, go in search of reptiles equipped with only a small scythe, a crowbar and hemp bags, to put the reptiles into. The hunters are paid according to the dangerousness of the serpent, a cobra yields 2,500 rupees (34.5 euro), an adder 300 (just over 4 euro).
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