Salim, Anika and Williams, Jarred and Almeida, Jose R. and Chandrasekharuni, Gnaneswar and Williams, Harry F. and Vaiyapuri, Rajendran and Vaiyapuri, Mohanraj and Viswanath, Rajan and A, Thanigaivel and Patel, Ketan and hirumalaikolundusubramanian, Ponniah and Senthilkumaran, Subaramanian and Whitaker, Romulus and VaiyapuriI, Sakthivel (2024) Challenges in rescuing snakes to protect human lives and promote snake conservation in Tamil Nadu, India. PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 18 (9): e0012516.
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Abstract
Human-snake conflicts are common worldwide, often resulting in snakebites. Snakebite envenoming causes over 125,000 deaths and 400,000 permanent disabilities worldwide every year. India alone accounts for an average of ~58,000 annual snakebite-induced deaths. As human developments rapidly expand into suburban and rural areas, snakes are being displaced and incidences of residents finding snakes within their dwellings are increasing. Most people have an innate fear of snakes, compounded by centuries of negative influence from culture and mythology manifesting in people often attempting to kill snakes. Snake rescuers are volunteers who remove and relocate snakes to safe areas. This is a risky job that poses potentially fatal implications if bitten. These volunteers mostly receive no financial compensation for their time or transportation costs, but they choose to do it for their love of snakes, conservation, and for the altruistic nature of helping others. Snake rescuers often receive no formal training and are unfunded resulting in removing snakes improperly without adequate safety equipment or the required skill set to safely complete the task. Therefore, it is critical to determine their challenges and requirements to promote the safe rescue of snakes while protecting human lives.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Additional Information: | Copyright of this article belongs to Salim et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
| Subjects: | A ATREE Publications > G Journal Papers |
| Divisions: | SM Sehgal Foundation Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation > Biodiversity Monitoring and Conservation Planning |
| Depositing User: | Ms Library Staff |
| Date Deposited: | 24 Dec 2025 06:29 |
| Last Modified: | 12 Jan 2026 10:44 |
| URI: | http://archives.atree.org/id/eprint/1413 |
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