Visakha SPCA/India -- Cobra rescue and Sea turtle press

[Guest guest]

Dear Friends: The shelter reconstruction after the cyclone and floods is

progressing and the rural animal birth control for dogs is getting underway.

The outreach teams have cared for 12,338 domestic animals so far. The teams had

to go to the same areas twice because of serious disease outbreaks to give

special treatment. And we have also recently rescued 22 more cattle from

Srikakulam in coordination with the police, the District Collector and Animal

Husbandry. The conditions of the animals were very bad and one of them had a

fractured leg which had to be amputated. They are all doing fine now and 12

cattle are going to Narsipatnam today for adoption!

Kindly consider your support www.VisakhaSPCA.org -- we need greatly need your

help to function and carry out with our activities! Even with all the

aboveVisakha SPCA continues with the usual activities for wildlife protection,

see below our reports on:

I. another year of preventing snake exploitation

II. sea turtle recent press

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6 Nov. Deccan Chronicle press photo: Dr.Dhanajaya visiting from The Tsunami

Memorial Animal Welfare Trust ( Sri Lanka) holding the mouth of the cobra while

Swathi Buddhiraju of Visakha SPCA is cutting the line to free the snake's mouth

which remained stitched for more than 10 long days. Sherry Grant, visiting to

help with the shelter reconstruction from Humane Society International-Asia, is

watching the process.

 

 

 

 

 

I. Liberation of Cobras 2005

 

 

 

Editor’s note and background: The Hindu festival of Nagala Chauvithi, follows

after Deepavali each year. It is particularly celebrated by women who pray to

the snake for the well being of their men folk (and so that the cobras do not

attack them with their fatal bite while working in the fields) and barren women

for blessings of having children. The rishis (sages) explain that women

particularly observe this holy day because they knowingly or unknowingly violate

the principals of ahimsa (nonharming) by killing animals, birds or insects in

their cleaning or cooking all year long. By worship of the snake they can make

amends to nature by offering milk directly to the snakes. But the cruel

industry of actually catching and stitching the cobras’ mouth together began to

make it easier to feed milk to the snakes. And snakes suffer horribly through

this practice. Years ago during the festival time in Visakha it was so common

the gutters would flow white with milk from the offering to the snakes. The

snakes would regurgitate and ultimately die from the practice.

 

 

The Visakha SPCA has been diligently working to get the Forest Department to

enforce the Wildlife Act and ban these practices. Each year these exploitations

decrease through the VSPCA's tireless work. See last year’s report

http://www.visakhaspca.org/Achievements.htm (click top on “Victory for the

Snake”) where a photo of the clay tablets is shown where snakes can be

worshipping without any harm at all.

 

 

 

Pradeep Nath’s report: On the 6th of November, the day of Nagalachauvithi

festival we had in place a full investigating team to go to the villages of the

three districts to see whether there were any violations of the snake

ordinances. Our team of 12 people was prepared to cover 70 kms. radius on all

sides to make sure the law of no more cobra torture was being observed. We have

stopped these horrible practices for the last three years in the city. Our plan

this year was to expand to the rural areas and ascertain whether the awareness

programs had reached them. And it did. It was indeed very heartening to learn

that the devotees were now protecting the cobras and worshipping them in

nonharmful ways.

 

 

 

But the village of Kasimkota about 50 kms from is the place where the “snake

people” (over 60 families) still deal in illegal wildlife activities including

snake dealing.

 

 

 

However, they have greatly reduced their activities on these lines and

particularly now because their headman died few days before we arrived due to

cobra bite while another person was on his death bed just an hour before we

reached there! It is known fact that the fangs can grow after they are

removed and the ignorant headman simply caught hold of the tail of his pet cobra

which bit his thigh and he died instantly because there is no medical help

within 20 kms nor is there any vet hospital. The other man put his hand one and

a half foot in the pit to remove the eggs and money offered in the pit only to

be terribly surprised that there was indeed a cobra inside which bit him.

Therefore we are trying to dissuade the devotees not to offer any milk to the

actual snakes and to use the snake clay tablets or symbolic pits instead for

worship. Also the milk can cause suffocation to the cobras within the pits.

 

 

 

Around 7 AM we confiscated four large cobras with stitched mouths in the main

hub of this festival area. When the stitches were opened immediately the

snakes gave big yawn of freedom but very pathetic to see the fangs areas

completely covered with maggots and smelling. After removing the stitches we

had them taken to our shelter where the antibiotics were given and left in the

night in our nearby habitats for cobras and they sped away in darkness to a life

and liberty of their own.

 

 

 

These snake charmers were new and from a different area of the state and did not

know that these were illegal activities according to the laws protecting

wildlife in India. We left them with a dire warning

 

that these activities would not be tolerated.

 

 

 

Snake confiscation by Visakha SPCA volunteers: this photo and cobra photo above

courtesy of Sherry Grant, HSI Asia.

 

 

 

 

 

II. SEA TURTLE RECENT PRESS - two articles

 

The report referred to below (VSPCA annual sea turtle report for 2004-05) is

available by word document and not yet up on our web site; please reply to this

email if you would like to receive a copy.

 

 

 

http://www.hindu.com/2005/11/21/stories/2005112101510200.htm

 

Plea for survey on nesting grounds of turtles

 

`Visakhapatnam-Bhimili sagara road will destroy their habitat'

 

 

 

 

 

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Five nesting grounds identified in country

a.. There has been an increase in nestings despite tsunami

a.. Forest Department thanked for making conservation drive a success

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UNDER THREAT: An Olive Ridley turtle that was washed ashore on the beach in

Visakhapatnam. A file photo.

 

 

VISAKHAPATNAM: The Visakha Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (VSPCA)

has demanded a survey all along the 1,000 km.-long coastline in the State on

Olive Ridley turtles. In its annual report for 2004-05 which was released here

on Sunday, VSPCA said the Dehra Dun-based Wildlife Institute of India had

identified five nesting grounds in the country in the survey conducted four

years ago. The officially-recognised nesting grounds are located at Hope Island

(Kakinada), Sriharikota and three locations of neighbouring Srikakulam district.

 

What the report says ``Our observation is that the number of endangered sea

turtles frequenting those places is less than 200. Incidentally, we have

identified more sea turtles coming to our small area. Thus, it should be added

as another important nesting ground,'' VSPCA president Pradeep Kumar Nath and

treasurer Swati Budhiraja told reporters after releasing the report.

 

The report confirmed spotting of 280 nestings and 270 turtles going back with

hatchlings from the Naval Coastal Battery to Endada during the period under

review. It said the numbers showed marked increase in nestings despite tsunami.

The report stated that none had ever done a survey of the entire coastline of

Andhra Pradesh to include more nesting grounds in the officially-recognised list

of Olive Ridley nesting grounds. The report expressed happiness with regard to

drastic fall in the number of dead turtles at Pudimadaka, Bhimunipatnam,

Annavaram and other places of North Andhra.

 

Awareness campaign This was possible due to an awareness campaign launched

among the fishermen communities in collaboration with Vikasa -- an NGO working

for the uplift of fishing people -- in 24 villages upstream to Annavaram and

Srikakulam. Mr. Nath thanked the Forest Department for its support in making

the turtle conservation drive a success.

 

The December 26 tsunami also forced trawler operators to keep their vessels idle

most of the year, thereby preventing death of turtles due non-use of turtle

exclusion devices known as TEDs. He, however, opposed laying of the 21

km.-long Swarna Andhra Sagara Road from Visakhapatnam to Bhimunipatnam at a cost

of Rs.45 crores as the widening of the road in violation of Coastal Regulation

Zone would destroy the sea turtle habitats.

 

Eco disaster He said the road project would spell environmental disaster and

renewed his appeal to the authorities to abandon the project. © Copyright 2000 -

2005 The Hindu

 

 

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a.. http://www.vizagcityonline.com/news/vizagnews.html

21 Nov. - VSPCA DEMANDS COMMITTEE TO SAVE SEA TURTLES: Visakha Society for

Prevention

of Cruelty to Animals (VSPCA) has urged the Visakhapatnam Urban Development

Authority (VUDA) to form a committee for protection of sea turtles on Vizag

coast. According to VSPCA's founder-president Pradeep K Nath, the

Dehradun-based Wildlife Institute of India (WII) has identified only five

nesting grounds facing threat in Andhra Pradesh - three in Srikakulam district

and one each in Ainada and Sriharikota, while Visakhapatnam, a good habitat for

nesting by Olive Ridley turtles, was ignored.

 

 

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Visakha SPCA www.VisakhaSPCA.org

26-15-200 Main Road

Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh

530001, India

Tel: 91-891-3096217, 2564759

email: Pradeep Nath, Founder and President vspcadeep

 

Edited by Weintraub, Visakha SPCA Representative, USA.