After BNP incident, another person falls victim to wildlife but civic authorities act fast to save his life
Prasanna Kumar, a 20 year old snake catcher was bitten by a cobra when was trying to catch it at Kengeri on Thursday evening. The snake bit him on his left index finger. He is undergoing the treatment at the KC General Hospital.
“At first Prasanna was sent to the NIMHANS hospital. As there was a shortage of the beds in the hospital the authorities referred him to the KC General Hospital,” said Dr MS Vishwaradhya, the medical superintendent of the KC General Hospital.
"When we informed the BBMP officials about the incident, they came to our rescue immediately. The joint commissioner and the health officer made some urgent calls to the hospital authorities to admit Prasanna," said R Sharat Babu, a BBMP Forest Cell volunteer Dr MS Vishwaradhya added that the patient is out of danger. “The patient is doing well. He is under treatment in the ICU and is been given oxygen and other life saving drugs. He will be under the observation for two more days,” he said
This is not the first incident in the forest department history. Two years ago another BBMP volunteer Manjunath was bitten by a cobra while he was trying to rescue it. He lost his finger due to the sting. Six months ago another wildlife enthusiast Valish was bitten by a snake.
Dealing with wildlife was never an easy task. Two days back, Mallige, a Bannerghatta Biological Park (BBP) employee at the herbivorous safari was attacked by a great Indian gaur and died in the Appollo Hospital. He was attacked on his back, abdominal region and head.
On November 10, 2007, Assistant Director (Veterinary Services) of the BBP Dr GK Vishwanath was attacked by three elephants at BBP while the team was engaged in shooing the intruding elephants away to the deep forest.
Dr Vishwanth died on January 2, 2008. He had suffered irreversible paralysis of limbs, respiratory failure and also had succumbed to cervical injury.
`This is a risky profession. We have requested the BBMP officials to insure the entire snake catching team at the five BBMP forest cells.
The file is pending for approval for two years. Though Prsaanna is out of danger, nothing can be said about his future. The post operative care usually takes a year. We need to raise funds. Philanthropists can send their aid to BBMP forest Cell on the name of Prasanna or to me and receipts will be issued,’ said Sharat.
Cobra facts
A member of the family Elapidae (elapids) cobra is a venomous snake. The name is short for cobra de capello (or cobra di capello).
The name in Portuguese means the 'snake with hood,' or 'hood-snake.' When disturbed, most of these snakes can rear up and spread their neck (or hood) in a characteristic threat display. All the snakes which are referred to as cobras are not of the same genus, or even of the same family.
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