Snakes can be tamed: Manipith Baikhantapur residents

[NicoleRussell]

Snakes can be tamed: Manipith Baikhantapur residents
Statesman News Service
KOLKATA, July 31: In the village of Manipith Baikhantapur, about 100 Km from
Kolkata every year on an average at least 12 people die of snake bites.
In this quaint hamlet, the struggle between superstition and fear is always
dominated by the former emotion.
Villagers who virtually cohabit with snakes and they are of the opinion that
these creatures can be tamed.
Quite naturally many have experienced the fatal sting, but yet they remain
undeterred mostly due to superstition.
These venomous visitors bring snake charmers thriving business in the
locality.
Strange sights greet you everywhere. Whether you step inside or outside a
hut, you cannot keep the slimy creatures at bay.
They may be seen contentedly curled up on your door steps. They do not leave
you alone even at night.
Look outside your mosquito net and there they are, clinging onto it, licking
the air with their bifurcated tongue.
The snakes commonly found here are black cobras. Other poisonous snakes are
found in abundance too. Unusually, there are no doctors in the village to
treat snake bites.
The patients once bitten, cannot be taken to the nearby hospital due to
unavailability of a mode of transportation. Even if they are somehow removed
to the Diamond Harbour Hospital, anti-venom vaccines used to treat snake
bite are generally absent.
A snake charmer, Gobinda Mondal, said: “It is a wrong notion that a snake
charmer can cure patients bitten by poisonous snakes.
“Only bites of non-venomous ones can be treated by administering local
herbs.”
But people here do not believe that death is caused by snake bites. Ujjala
Pike, a local, said: “I have been bitten by snakes several times. But I have
overcome the fear. I live with a snake in my house which has been tamed.
This, I think will protect me from the attack of other snakes.”

[VoodooChile]

Good luck with that...lol
What is up with the "slimy creatures" and "deadly stings"??
I guess that proves there are parts of the world that are MUCH more superstitious and MUCH more uneducated about herps than even the states.

[louise]

Originally Posted by VoodooChile

Good luck with that...lol
What is up with the "slimy creatures" and "deadly stings"??
I guess that proves there are parts of the world that are MUCH more superstitious and MUCH more uneducated about herps than even the states.

scary isn't it?

[Nonconformist]

Wow.

Thats just ... wow.

What else can you say here?

[DaveA]

Wow; how scary is that?

"people here do not believe that death is caused by snake bites?" Wow