New Delhi : Over thirty years after the introduction of the Wildlife Protection Act, which banned the catching of snakes in India , a small community of snake charmers continues to practice its trade catching over 400,000 snakes every year, which ultimately die, in complete defiance of the law. A report based on new research done by the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), however, has strongly recommended that their traditional knowledge and skills be utilised for education and medicine by setting up sapera centres as they do not have access to land, education or employment opportunities.

Spread across tiny village hamlets in five states of northern India , the community of Jogi-Nath saperas lives in a time warp, although some of them are gradually moving away to other professions, the WTI report said.

Dodging the law in urban areas, where conservation awareness is high, the Jogi Naths stick to rural or semi-rural areas, doubling up, in many cases, as vendors of traditional medicine, snake catchers and musicians.

The report entitled “Biodiversity, livelihoods and the law: The case of the Jogi-Nath snake charmers of India” based on path-breaking research, was formally launched by V.K. Bahuguna, Inspector General of Forests, Ministry of Environment and Forests along with a presentation by members of the sapera community.

“Despite thirty years of the law over 70 percent of the Jogi-Naths are still dependent on snake charming to earn a livelihood. Ignorance about the law was quite common. None of them own land, even though they would like to,” Bahar Dutt, who led this research, said. Notably, most of those practicing the trade in the current generation are all under 35 years of age.

“On the positive side we found that the snake charmers possess a unique ability to handle venomous snakes with a tremendous knowledge of the different species and their behaviour. They are also called by local farmers to retrieve snakes from agricultural fields or human inhabited areas who would otherwise just kill them,” she said.

Tracing their roots to a nomadic mendicant guru, Gorakhnath, who is said to have been born out of the matted locks of the Hindu god, Shiva, the modern day Jogi-Naths wear saffron and roam around the countryside in north India , much as their guru did in the 5 th or 6 th century or earlier, according to oral history records.

Only men practice this trade, catching the snakes from the wild and removing the poison fangs, where needed. Women and children stay behind in their villages, while the men travel, sometimes for over three months.

The report, which sampled 50 Jogi-Nath families in Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, found a total of 135 snakes with them. The research team, which included a herpetologist and an ethnobotanist, was guided by members of the community and found eight species of snakes with the charmers, the most common being: the Indian cobra (Naja naja), the common rat snake (Ptyas mucosa) and the John’s earth boa (Eryx johnii).

Trapping occurred throughout the year and during their travels, although this activity increased during the monsoons. According to the data, each family on an average collected at least seven snakes.

Most snakes were force-fed. Snake husbandry methods and health were found to be poor. “Snakes which had spent more than a month in captivity showed considerable deterioration,” Dutt said.

“However, the community council imposes a heavy fine on a person, if his snake dies on him, as it is considered an extremely bad omen. As a result the snakes are released when the charmers realize that their condition is deteriorating,” she added. The released snakes, many of them without fangs, have a slim chance of surviving in the wild, the report said.

It strongly recommended that Jogi Nath saperas be used in the rural areas as “bare feet conservation educators” and that Sapera Centres be set up for them, which could be used for promoting related livelihood practices like dairy farming, cultivation of medicinal plants and musical ensembles that use traditional sapera instruments like the “been.”

These could also act as information centres where children could be taught about snakes through lecture demonstrations by the snake charmers. The report also observed that snake charmers possessed alternative skills like jute bag making and horse breeding, which could be tapped as well.

Dutt strongly emphasized that this is a poor community and in an era where tolerance for wild animals especially dangerous reptiles like snakes is going down, the skills of the community can be used for conservation.

The report also highlights their skills as traditional healers for treating snakebites as well as common ailments. “While the efficacy of many of the treatments need further investigation we found many healers having established clientele across states which indicate their popularity. In a country where access to primary health care facilities is minimal, snake charmers are providing informal health services to a large section of the rural population” the report said.

“The role of the Sapera Centre could be the following:

1. Venom collection and immediate release of snakes back in the wild.
2. Treatment for persons suffering from snakebites through administration of anti-venom injections.
3. Sale of herbal medicines made by snake charmers to treat different ailments after registration and verification with Ayurvedic colleges or government bodies dealing with traditional medicine systems
4. Education classes conducted by snake charmers for the general public on how to distinguish between a venomous and non-venomous snake.
5. Rescue of snakes from agricultural fields or human habitation and release in the wild for a small fee.”