Day after seizure, wildlife board member says the snakes caught are not venomous

Ludhiana A day after five persons were arrested with two snakes, Dr Sandeep K Jain, member of the Punjab Wildlife Board, said the snakes appeared to be of ‘redsand boa’ variety, which is non-venomous.

“The statement made by the Forest inspector that snakes have venom is misleading which also shows his lack of knowledge on the subject,” said Dr Jain.

He agreed that a case needed to be registered against the persons for catching snakes without permission.

He also wrote a letter to the Chief Wildlife Warden, Punjab, complaining about the lack of knowledge of the forest staff.

However, forest inspector Balwinder Singh maintained that snakes have venom and no one should pass statements without looking at them personally.

Singh said, “They have venom which can be dangerous for the ones who are not experts. Normally, snake charmers take venom out before putting them on display for their shows. But in the case the group used to supply snakes to a tantrik based in Uttar Pradesh. We are going to investigate as the details of the tantrik and for what purpose was he using these snakes.”

But the inspector, who till yesterday evening was not even sure about the name of the variety, today agreed that it is sand boa. As per the information available with experts, most of the sand boa are non-venomous, but the forest team is maintaining that they are venomous and the same has been stated in the court.

Meanwhile, the forest

team produced the arrested persons in the court of J P S Benipal, who sent them in police remand till June 26.