This tribe extracts snake venom for a living

CHENNAI: After more than three decades of extracting and selling snake venom that was used to make antidote for snake bites, the Irular tribe from Kanchipuram and Tiruvallur districts has well understood the value of its work and is more than just content to serve the society with their Irula Snake Catchers Industrial Co-operative Society, located at the Madras Crocodile Bank in Vadanemmili. Registered in 1978, the society, which had just 26 members in 1982-83, has grown with 328 Irula members. There are 250 licenced snake catchers and 108 of them are women. “We are happy that we also play an important role in helping the society,” said supervisor S Rajendran. According to the society, the government had given them permission to catch only four types of poisonous snakes — Indian Cobra, Common Krait, Saw Scale Viper and Russell’s Viper.  “Every year, we will be given an order by the government on the number of snakes we can catch. This year, we have been ordered to catch 2,000 snakes,” said Rajendran. “We have divided that number among our licenced members. For every snake caught, the catcher is paid accordingly. The rest of our members will catch rats to feed the snakes. We also extract red scorpion’s venom, but that is done only when we get orders.” The Irula members say that the venom is extracted four times from a snake in 28 days. It is later taken to the lab and made to powder before being sold. Every time, an extraction is made, a mark is made on the snake for identification, so it is not again brought to the society before a certain period. “We make four marks on the snake. After that, we release it in the wild. Our members do not catch the same snake till it gets its new skin,” explained a member. “Four extractions from eight or nine snakes will be equal to one gram of venom powder. Even selling the powder requires permission from the forest department,” the supervisor added.However, the members worriedly claim that the sale of venom powder has gone down considerably in the last few years after the government revised the price rates in 2007. “One gram of Cobra and Russell’s Viper’s venom powder is sold for `23,000 and `27,000, respectively. But the buyer has to compulsorily buy venom powder of either Krait or Saw Scale Viper, which will cost up to `45,000 a gram along with a Cobra or Russell’s Viper’s venom powder. So, many pharmaceutical companies buy only Saw Scale Viper or Krait’s venom from us and buy Cobra and Russell’s from outside, which we believe could be from the black market. Moreover, many expert researchers from places like King Institute in Guindy, where we sell venom, have all retired,” they claimed.