NABARANGPUR: Coexistence seems to be the quintessence of the world he has woven through his passion for crawling critters. An IT engineer, Dhiresh Mohapatra chanced upon a rare albino snake in Bhubaneswar one and a half years back while he was studying at KIIT and it changed the course of his life. He soon founded Sarpo (Snake Awareness Rescue and Protection Organisation) to create awareness about snakes among the people while making every attempt to protect them. A native of Nabarangpur, Dhiresh began with the documentation of the rare ‘albino checkered keelback’ (Xenochrophis Piscator) snake along with Rudra Prashan Mohapatro of Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) and founder of SAVERS, which has been authenticated by Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore. The snake with yellowish white tint body and a glossy white underbelly is very rare and perhaps found in Orissa for the first time, he said. A non-venomous snake, it flattens its head, extends neck ribs and rears up when threatened and hence, mistaken for a cobra, he added. His documentary, ‘God needs to be rescued’ which he shot with Rudra Prashan got him a nomination for CMS Vatavaran Award 2009 in the amateur category. His love for the subject had him attend a Herpetology workshop on King Cobra Telemetric Project by Gerad Martin in the dense rain forest of Agumbe in Karnataka in 2009. Also a member of Wildlife Trust of India, Dhiresh wants to save every snake from being a victim of human fear through awareness.Sarpo has been conducting workshops on snake handling and snakebite management. Dhiresh has conducted workshops on snakebite at XIM-Bhubaneswer and Andharua village in Chandaka elephant sanctuary.
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