'Snake' Naresh rescued more than 250 king cobras, 35 pythons, and more than 20,000 other snakes in and around Chikkamagaluru in Karnataka.
Snake Rescuer 'Snake' Naresh bitten by Cobra dies in Chikkamagaluru
A noted 52-year-old snake rescuer in the Chikkamagaluru district of Karnataka was killed after a venomous cobra he secured inside the boot space of his scooter bit him through the bag on Tuesday, 30 May.
Naresh was declared dead on arrival at a local hospital as the venom had already spread throughout his body, the police said.
The Chikkamagaluru Town police have registered a case of unnatural death in connection with the incident.
Naresh was a resident of Chikkamagaluru town and a native of Tumakuru. He is survived by his wife and two children.
“Naresh’s daughter, who finished her engineering course in Hassan, was to get married next month when her father’s life was snuffed out on Tuesday,” one of Naresh’s close friends, “Snake” Shyam, told South First.
‘Snake’ Naresh with a cobra in Chikkamagaluru.
Popularly known as “Snake” Naresh, he was a household name in Chikkamagaluru town as most people there knew him as more than just a long-time snake-rescuer.
He also contested the Assembly elections in 2013 from the Chikkamagaluru constituency, pitting himself against the BJP National General Secretary CT Ravi.
Even Forest Department officials knew his phone number by heart.
For every person who called the department when they stumbled across snakes, its officials would pass on Naresh’s number to them.
Sources in Chikkamagaluru told South First that Naresh received a call on Tuesday that someone had spotted a cobra at the Hosamane Extension near Housing Board in Chikkamagaluru Town.
Naresh promptly reached the spot and rescued the cobra.
He had bagged it and put the bag in the boot space of his scooter when he was told there was another snake nearby.
He searched for it and found the second snake, bagged it, and proceeded to put that bag into the boot space as well.
As he was pushing the earlier bundle to the side, the cobra bit his hand through the bag.
“Usually, the thickness of the bag is not even half a millimetre. The cobra’s fangs are 3-4 mm,” a snake rescuer who did not wish to be named told South First.
‘Snake’ Naresh
Naresh’s close friend “Snake” Shyam told South First: “What I usually tell all snake rescuers is that they should not bag venomous snakes. They should either put them in a closed wooden box, plastic box, bottle, or container. The bags are only meant for non-venomous snakes.”
The rescuer from Mysuru added that the news of his friend Naresh’s death wrecked him as he knew him as a fellow reptile rescuer for 15 years.
Shyam recollected speaking to Naresh over the phone.
“I repeatedly told him we should think of every snake rescue as our first, and handle snakes accordingly. Never be over-confident, as we know we are there to rescue the snake, but the stressed snake would only think that harm is on its way,” he told South First.
Shyam also said that no VIP or VVIP would get bitten by a snake, and that snakebites happen to people who belong to economically weaker sections — farmers, daily wage labourers, coolies, and pretty much all snake rescuers.
“I have requested our new Chief Minister Siddaramaiah — through the Forest Department — to make sure there that at least 10 beds with ventilators and antidotes reserved at government hospitals for snakebite victims so that emergencies such as these could be attended to without wasting much time. When we have separate burn and orthopaedic wards, why not a mini snakebite ward as well?” he asked.
“Naresh was a wonderful human being, and I had even chided him for contesting the Assembly elections in Chikkamagaluru against CT Ravi,” said Shyam, revealing the depth of their friendship.
Chikkamagaluru’s Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Kranthi NE remembered Naresh as a long-term volunteer who rescued reptiles — mostly snakes.
“In my tenure of service until now here in Chikkamagaluru, I have known him to have rescued 65-70 snakes, out of which 35 would be large-sized adult snakes, and around 30 baby snakes,” he recalled.
“Whenever locals called up the Forest Department office after seeing a snake, we would give them Naresh’s number. After the rescue of the snake, he would inform us,” said the DFO.
The rescued snake would eventually be released into the wild with the respective Range Forest Officer (RFO) or available officers accompanying Naresh,” Kranthi told South First.
Snake Rescuer ‘Snake’ Naresh at his home in Chikkamagaluru.
Forest Department sources said that Naresh did not have a licence to catch snakes.
Reptile rescue volunteers usually apply for licences only in bigger cities like Bengaluru and Mysuru.
However, unregistered but vastly-experienced snake rescuers like Naresh are the mainstay in districts like Chikkamagalur, Chikkaballapura, or KR Nagara, which share their borders with reserve forests.
According to Chikkamagaluru Forest Department sources, Naresh had been rescuing snakes in and around Chikkamagaluru for nearly three decades — around 27 years, to be more precise.
He had rescued more than 250 king cobras, around 35 pythons, and more than 20,000 other snakes.
He also conducted awareness programmes in schools and colleges, sharing information and his experiences on the conservation of snakes and other wildlife.
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