The pursuit of “heroic” snake rescues took Punjab lad Vikram Singh Malout all over. From Rajpura to Nurpur Bedian to Nangal to Talwara in Punjab to Nalagarh in Himachal Pradesh and, strangely enough, long stints in Maharashtra, a state bursting at the seams with “sarp mitras” (friends of snakes). On the night of October 3, Malout was holding an amusement show in the house of a sarp mitra in Nashik with many others in rapt attendance to his Punjabi machismo. Malout was free-handling and toying with a bunch of Spectacled cobras in violation of handling protocols and animal abuse laws. It was to prove a fatal indulgence in a venom-loaded variant of Russian roulette.
After he detached and put away two docile cobras, Malout tapped the third one on the head to make it inflate the hood. The fretful cobra lunged like a bolt of lightning and bit Malout on the right thumb. As the video of the incident reveals, Malout took the bite in his foolhardy stride and refused a speedy retreat to hospital. His condition deteriorated despite his claims of “venom immunity” and when he was finally taken to hospital, he was brought dead. Malout also suffered brain haemorrhage, a rare effect of a cobra’s neuro-toxic venom.
“Malout violated several sections of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. In particular, he had no permission to rescue and handle snakes in Maharashtra. While stunts with snakes may have earned Malout thousands of likes on his Facebook and Youtube page, they set wrong examples for other foolish youths and actually stress and depress snakes,” said Jabalpur-based expert and snake rescue gatekeeper, Vivek Sharma, who first contradicted media reports by pointing out that Malout had not been bitten during a Good Samaritan rescue of a cobra from a Nashik house/hilly areas but while indulging in illegal, shady, abusive amusements with multiple captive cobras.
Malout had acquired a reputation of a daredevil stuntman by live-streaming videos on social media. His videos kissing, fingering and teasing cobras were instant hits. To put it pithily, he was a post-modern snake charmer of the virtual world but with the distinction that he dealt with serpents whom he had not de-fanged prior to demonstrative stunts.
{{/usCountry}}Malout had acquired a reputation of a daredevil stuntman by live-streaming videos on social media. His videos kissing, fingering and teasing cobras were instant hits. To put it pithily, he was a post-modern snake charmer of the virtual world but with the distinction that he dealt with serpents whom he had not de-fanged prior to demonstrative stunts.
{{/usCountry}}Rom Whitaker bytes back
If any one’s words carry weight and mitigate this emerging snake-human conflict driven by ignorant fans, social media and conservation-unfriendly interventions, it has to be legendary herpetologist Rom Whitaker, awarded the Padma Shri this year for reptile conservation. I sought Rom’s perspective on Vikram Malout’s death.
“Yes, this is becoming like a disease and difficult to control. One more self-styled ‘snake rescuer’ has died from snakebite. These showoffs say they are doing stupid stunts with venomous snakes because they like snakes.
Being disrespectful to a snake by performing idiotic stunts like free-handling and kissing cobras is not the way to get people to appreciate snakes for their beauty and value as rodent destroyers. Snakes are deathly afraid of deadly humans and will bite in self-defence when handled carelessly,” Rom told this writer.
Rom’s message: “My appeal to you snake-rescuers is to have the utmost respect for all snakes, handle them safely and carefully. In India, we are all trying hard to change people’s attitudes about snakes from negative to positive, but playing the fool and showing off is not the way to do it and can only end in a ‘hero’ becoming a ‘zero’. Please use social media to get people to like snakes not to use the innocent snake to pump up your ego! Thanks”.
The writer can be contacted at vjswild1@gmail.com