‘Many killing it because of fear and lack of awareness’

Conservation Biologist for Eastern Ghats Wildlife Society K. Murthy said that the population of king cobra is threatened and the species have been on decline in the Eastern Ghats.

Pointing out that there has been no study made on its population, Mr. Murthy said that there is a lot of mishandling of snake by the amateur snake catchers, leading to the death of the snake or the catcher.

He was speaking in a workshop on ‘Human-Snake conflict mitigation for King Cobra conservation,’ jointly organised by the Andhra Pradesh Forest Department and the Eastern Ghats Wildlife Society at Indira Gandhi Zoological Park (IGZP) here on Saturday.

Around 50 field level forest officers, amateur snake catchers and a few others attended the meet.

Forest officials, who took part in the workshop, said that on the lines of a study made on conservation of king cobra in the Western Ghats, the Eastern Ghat Wildlife Society should also conduct similar one in the Eastern Ghats. The officials also proposed for field rescue stations in Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam areas, which would immediately react and rescue snakes.

Mr. Murthy said that increased habitat destruction and unsustainable agriculture practices, further threaten snake populations in the Eastern Ghats. He also said that due to lack of awareness and fear many are killing the snake. “In the Eastern Ghats, people when they see a snake immediately try to kill it, due to fear and lack of awareness. In the last six months, we have rescued two king cobras at the forest area in Madugula in Visakhapatnam district,” said Mr. Murthy.

During the workshop, participants were shown videos and techniques on handling of snake. in a way to keep it alive and safe and formulate strategy to avoid decline in its population.