The forest department nabbed a ‘snake charmer’ and rescued four snakes from the man’s illegal possession, taking action on information provided by People For Animals (PFA) organisation in Haridwar, . However, the rescue of the reptiles also caused some friction between the officials and the volunteer with the animal activists accusing the Haridwar divisional forest officer of trying to forcefully delete the video of the entire incident taken by the PFA’s Haridwar volunteers. A written complaint regarding this incident has been sent to the principal chief conservator of forests RK Mahajan, said Gauri Maulekhi of PFA.
On Sunday, the police received information from the local PFA volunteer about a ‘snake charmer’ illegally displaying live snakes. Acting on the information, the department nabbed the man who was reportedly performing a show using the snakes in the SIIDCUl area. The forest department officials took officials have taken the snakes into their possession and imposed a penalty on the youth by cutting challan.
Speaking to the Pioneer, Aditya Sharma of PFA Haridwar said, “A youth was showing play of snakes near petrol pump in SIIDCUl and earning money from the show. I informed the forest department officials about this and they sent a team to nab the person. It is an offence under the Wildlife Protection Act to make any bird, animal or snake a captive and earn living from them. This youth had removed the fangs of the snake and was using it to earn money.”
The wild life ranger Mahesh Semwal said, “On getting the information, our team reached the site and the youth was arrested.
During interrogation he confessed his crime and said that his name is Aslam and that he is a resident of Kaliyar village near Roorkee. The photographs of the snakes have been sent to Dehradun for identification of the breed of snakes,” he said.
Meanwhile, Sharma has alleged that the Haridwar divisional forest officer HK Singh had forcefully deleted the visuals he had taken of the entire episode, stating that he wanted to suppress the matter. Talking to The Pioneer, Maulekhi said, “The DFO forcefully tried to delete the video of the activity that Aditya had recorded. The official managed to delete a portion of the recording while a portion of the same is secure. The department staff wanted to ‘settle’ the matter by simply issuing a challan with the snakes caught being Schedule IV creatures. However, our volunteer persisted and the department took further action. Regarding the actions of the department official, we have submitted a written complaint to the PCCF RK Mahajan,” she said.
According to Maulekhi, the snakes rescued are non-venemous checkered keelback snakes, also called Asiatic water snakes (xenochrophis piscator). This snake is commonly found in or in the close proximity of freshwater lakes and rivers where it feeds mainly on small fish and frogs dwelling in the water. Being non-venemous and found without much difficulty in rivers and freshwater bodies in the region, they are often preferred by ‘snake charmers’ for their performances.