Neelimkumar Khaire is the founder-director of the Pune-based Katraj Snake Park (estb. 1986), which is home to a wide variety of snakes found in cities, fields, water bodies, forests, and hills, including the dreaded king cobra and viper. In 1999, the snake park was merged with the Rajiv Gandhi Zoological Park, a major tourist attraction of Pune. During the 50 years that he has been residing in this industrial-academic city, Khaire has won encomiums as a caring and compassionate animal activist quick to attend calls to treat and nurse animals which stray into human habitats.Newspeg. In October last year, Khaire published an English language book titled Snakes (Jyotsna Prakashan), which provides in-depth pictorial and textual guidance on 57 species of snakes commonly found in urban and rural areas. Written in an easy, flowing style, the handbook helps readers identify snake species and distinguish between venomous and non-venomous reptiles.
Direct speech. The objective of Snakes is to save as many of this rapidly disappearing life form as possible. Contrary to popular belief, snakes play an important role in maintaining the ecological balance by preying on rodents and birds which are hazardous to human health. Many non-venomous snakes found in fields are mistaken as dangerous and killed, allowing rats and field mice to flourish and multiply. Ophidiophobists (those who fear snakes) dont understand that snakes never attack unless provoked. Stoning or hacking them to death is cruel and self-defeating, says Khaire.
My book helps lay people identify snakes from their bands, stripes, spots, blotches, head structures, etc and highlights their behaviour patterns, habitats, and breeding cycles. The book also has a section on snake bites, signs and symptoms of poisoning, treatments, etc, he reveals.
History. A science graduate of Pune University, Khaire began his career in the hospitality industry and at age 18 was appointed general manager of Maharashtra Tourism Develop-ment Corporations holiday camp in Matheran, a hill station in Raigad district, 120 km from Pune, where he first encountered a venomous snake on the premises. It kindled an intense interest in Khaire to read up on wildlife and nature, and thus began his enduring commitment to snakes and wildlife causes.
In 1980, Khaire made headlines across the country when he shut himself in a cramped enclosure for 72 hours with 72 venomous snakes. Since then he has traveled across the country holding rallies, exhibitions, lectures, and demonstrations. Although in 1982 he was bitten by a deadly Russells viper, and lost his left arm to gangrene, a year later he resumed his mission to save the richly diverse community of his reptilian friends.
Future plans. Having devoted his life to the study and preservation of reptiles, saving them from homo sapiens is Khaires life mission. Snakes are in great danger today and some species may become extinct because human beings are relentlessly encroaching into their territory. Agriculture fields are being rapidly converted into elite farmhouses and large tracts of forest are reclaimed for agriculture. In areas that have been turned into hill stations for tourists, species like the Phipsons Shieldtail are often run over by cars because they prefer to lie on the tarmac for absorbing heat, laments Khaire.
Huned Contractor (Pune)