JOIN US The viper, weighing 5kg, around 4ft long and four inches thick, was found in the farm of Hanuma Reddy in Bhuvaneshwarinagar and Shivappa released into the wild in the Puttenhalli forest area near Devanahalli.
It took nearly 15 minutes to capture the deadly viper. The residents from the surrounding areas say that it is a common occurrence to spot these highly venomous snakes in the farms and even inside homes. Whever they spot a snake they call Shivappa.
Shivappa says that earlier people used to kill the snakes because they were afraid of the potency of the venom. “Russel’s vipers are among the most venomous snakes and people used to kill them immediately after spotting them,” he says.
Shivappa turned to snake catching out of respect to the reptiles and has caught over 4000 snakes over the past four years. “They are creatures that we pray to and I found it hard to accept that they were being killed mainly out of fear. So I began to catch them and release them into the wild,” he says. Shivappa adds that the rapidly expanding boundaries of the City are taking their toll on these creatures. Shivappa can be contacted at 99808 55720.