Close-up of a rat snake. Credit: gopuphotography/Flickr, CC BY 2.0
Only a month ago, Chirag Roy, an experienced naturalist and passionate snake-rescuer, was bitten by a venomous snake near the Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve. The region, home to the four most venomous snakes in India was typically under-resourced. Rushed to a hospital two hours away, Chirag didn’t survive. India suffers the highest occurrence of deaths and loss of limbs due to snakebite. Regarded as a ‘poor man’s problem’, the situation is compounded by superstition, ignorance and just plain apathy. Samanth Subramanian and Padmaparna Ghosh talk to experts across the field about different types of venom, the aftermath of a cobra bite, the use of horses in the making of anti-venom and raising awareness about this very avoidable cause of death.
This is the latest episode of The Intersection, a fortnightly podcast on Audiomatic. For more such podcasts visit audiomatic.in.