BANGALORE: For some, it’s just a snake. But for some it is a ‘fortune maker’. This is the story of ‘Red Sand Boa’ which is just like any other snake. On Monday, hundreds of people gathered in Cubbon Park to see the ‘double-headed’ snake that had strayed accidentally. Before the volunteers of forest cell of the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) could reach the spot, many ‘devotees’ had offered milk and over fed it. The cops came to the scene and dispersed the crowd to allow the volunteers to rescue the snake. Of late, trading of Red Sand Boa, also called as ‘Double Engine’ has become rampant. Some miscreants make money by selling this snake to ‘gullible people’ claiming that keeping it would bring fortune. Interestingly, those who paid and bought this snake are facing the music, as cases under the Wildlife Act have been slapped against them.A senior forest officer, on the condition of anonymity, told Express that almost each and every house hold in villages around Bagepalli, Hiriyur, Kanakapura and Chitradurga have a huge clay pot filled with soil and a red sand boa. Most of the time, the snake is over fed or forced fed with edible and non-edible stuff to increase its weight, thereby proportionally hiking the cost of the reptile. Most of the time devotees end up getting robbed by conmen as there is always a huge amount of money involved. The devotees are usually from far off places like Coimbatore, Kerala, Tirupati and others. Intrestingly, the sub-inspector of Bagepalli Police Station, has in the past three months done the maximum arrests under Indian Penal Code 109 and 420. Any non-Karnataka registration cars/vehicles moving in his village limits are targeted and they all turn out to be in search of Red Sand Boa commonly.The officer said there has been a strong propaganda by members of the religious fraternity and snake charmers for using this reptile as a means to get wealthy.When contacted, Sharath Babu, honorary wildlife warden of Forest Cell, said, “Though this particular snake is not seen frequently in Bangalore, still the Forest Cell team of authorised snake rescuers get almost one genuine enquiry regarding the Red Sand Boa snake every day. The situation has reached such an alarming proportion that it needs to be handled with care.” Recently, the BBMP Forest Cell helped the K R Market Police and Doddaballapur Police to file cases wherein for the first time in Karnataka, a case has been booked under WLPA and the buyer and the seller of the snake have been arrested. There is an emergent need to protect this snake before it goes extinct.A senior forest officer said, “The department has booked many cases and rescued allot of snakes. Many dealings go without notice of the department. The cooperation of general public is a must to check this illegal trade,he added.
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