INDIA
Agumbe Rainforest Research Station
Agumbe Rainforest Research Station (ARRS) is a permanent field station of the Madras Crocodile Bank Trust, located on a 4.5 acre site, in the middle of Someshwara Wildlife Sanctuary and Agumbe Reserve Forest; approximately 1.5 km from Agumbe village, in Shimoga District of Karnataka. ARRS was founded by renowned herpetologist Romulus Whitaker in 2005, with the financial support of the late Doris Norden Chattopadhyaya and the Whitley Fund for Nature with the long term mission to study and conserve rainforests through applied ecological research, outreach programs and partnerships. ARRS employs a staff of 10. The administration and research team comprises of 4 people, while there are 6 employees from the local community.
AGUMBE RAINFOREST RESEARCH STATION
ROLEX FILM
ROMULUS WHITAKER
The rescue team works with the locals and engages them in awareness programs.
Ajay Giri rescues and relocates King
Ajay and Allwin monitoring a King
A King Cobra nest was found very near a house with an understanding family who assisted in monitoring. The daughter, who is a zoology student, takes temperatures daily.
KINGS IN AGUMBE
Photos by Stephen Alter © 2023
At ARRS staff and/or volunteers track King Cobras.
PADMA AWARD
Why Padma Award for Two Tamil Nadu Snake Catchers Is a Win for Irula Tribe
Masi Sadaiyan and Vadivel Gopal hail from a historically criminalised community – the Irulas.
Published: 31 Jan 2023 at 12:56 PM IST
Two snake catchers of Tamil Nadu – Vadivel Gopal and Masi Sadaiyan – were conferred the Padma Shri for social work in January 2023.
Gopal and Sadaiyan are members of the Irular Snake Catchers’ Cooperative Society in Chennai and catch snakes for antivenom extraction. They are also involved in international awareness and advocacy on snake-human conflicts.
But their Padma win is significant on a different level: it means a reprieve from the years of discrimination the community they hail from – the Irulas – have been facing.
Irulas win the Padmashri
The Snake Association of India congratulates the snake-catching community
Vadivel Gopal and Masi Sadaiyan, members of the snake-catching Irula community, were among the 106 Padma awardees on this Republic Day (26th January). The duo has not only led snake-catching operations in India but also advised snake expeditions abroad!
Despite playing a critical role in saving thousands of lives each year from snakebites, Irulas who have been the backbone of the antivenom supply in India, have faced caste-based injustices over decades.
The comic appears in my column with The Hindu Sunday Magazine. A couple of years back, I wrote and illustrated a short comic book on snakebite awareness called ‘Making Friends with Snakes’ in collaboration with the Madras Crocodile Bank Trust and renowned herpetologist Mr. Romulus Whitaker, which is available via Pratham Books and Storyweaver. The book was a recipient of the Green Literature Festival Award, 2021.
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Feb 4.
Rohan Chakravarty
Notorious for rolling up into a ball like a pangolin to avoid answering the phone or meeting people, Rohan is a cartoonist, illustrator and animation designer hailing from Nagpur, the 'Tiger Capital of the World'. He is the creator of Green Humour – a series of cartoons, comics and illustrations on wild animals; wildlife and nature conservation, environment, sustainability and all things green.
Why Padma Award for Two Tamil Nadu Snake Catchers
Is a Win for Irula Tribe
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Masi Sadaiyan and Vadivel Gopal hail from a historically criminalised community – the Irulas.
Published: 31 Jan 2023 at 12:56 PM ISTSOUTH INDIA NEWS
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Two snake catchers of Tamil Nadu – Vadivel Gopal and Masi Sadaiyan – were conferred the Padma Shri for social work in January 2023.
Gopal and Sadaiyan are members of the Irular Snake Catchers’ Cooperative Society in Chennai and catch snakes for antivenom extraction. They are also involved in international awareness and advocacy on snake-human conflicts.
But their Padma win is significant on a different level: it means a reprieve from the years of discrimination the community they hail from – the Irulas – have been facing.
Masi and Vadivel are members of the Irula Snakecatchers Cooperative and accompanied us to Florida to help deal with the invasive python problem in 2017. I've been working with these wonderful folks 50 years now. The Padmashri is India's fourth-highest civilian award, great!! As Masi rightly put it, "This award should go to all the Irula tribesmen and women who've been risking their lives catching venomous snakes and extracting their venom for the production of millions of vials of life-saving antivenom since 1980". ​
​Irulas Vadivel and Masi in front of Rashtrapathi Bhaven in Delli
Photo by: Steffi John
West Bengal India
The people of West Bengal worship the cobra as incarnations of a goddess called Jhankleshwari
