NAGA PANCHAMI : These are the snakes that we confiscated during the "Nag panchami" day. Totally we got about 150 of them this year. They had all their fangs removed and their venom glands cut off and their mouth's stitched. They are in a very bad condition and they are reduced to half dead creatures. They dont make an attempt to even move, because their condition is so bad and the treatment so brutal. The mouth's of these snakes are stitched and they are not fed any food from one month or before, this is done in order for the snake to take milk offered by people, which they don’t take naturally. Milk is not a part of the snake's diet and since the milk is force fed into the snake, it tends to go into the lungs through the glottis and kills the snake gradually with a bad infection.
Apart from this infection, the snake develops a septic condition in the area that the fang has been removed and will die in a few days if not treated promptly.
These photographs show us opening the stitches of all the cobras that we confiscated from these snake charmers. These snake boxes that the snakes are kept in, have so much of turmeric, vermillon powder, and other trash....... which are not good for the snake at all.
After the stitches are removed, an application of betadine and other medications is given every day, apart from giving plenty of fresh water to drink, because the snake is in a severely dehydrated condition. This process goes on for about two to three weeks, after which the ones that recover are released in designated forest areas.