RAJSHAHI, Aug 01: The snake farm owned by Borhan Biswas Rumon of Naohata under Paba upazila in the district is only of its kind in the district. The snake farm
known as Snake Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre is also known as 'Cobra Friends Club' in the district which spread messages among people not to kill snakes considering its importance to our agriculture and environment.
Borhan Biswas said he took the profession of snake farming as a passion for the snakes. He rescues and rehabilitates various kinds of snakes and keeps those in proper places to live and regenerate all on his own effort and expenditure.
Borhan said he informs the locals about the benefit of snakes and requests them not to hurt or kill the animal. He even has a special team in the hospital to take care of and vaccinate the snakebite victims.
To his friend, Borhan is known as 'The snake-man'. He is a character who is young and scientific in his approach to snakes. He respects those and loves those. His work is recognised by famous figures like Dr Farid Ahsan, chairman of Zoology Department of Chittagong University and Golam Maortoza, professor of Zoology, Rajshahi University. They used to learn from him instead of the other way around.
He acquired his knowledge of snakes by studying books and through his seer persuasion. He also took training from various places and even toured all over Bangladesh and finally met a good snake handler Shahidul Islam Razzak to help him in his quest for helping not only the snakes but also the indigenous population.
Borhan Biswas Rumo informed, "A few days ago in Paba upazila alone 10-12 people died every month from
snake bites and now because of my work and the special team in the (Rajshahi Medical College hospital I was able to reduce the number to 1-2 deaths per month".
Upon entering the room where the snakes are kept, it was noticed all snakes were kept in a healthy and hygienic condition. He tells the people of his dreams, to go further and help increase the snake population.
He talked about the pest problem and how rats destroy crops and he said, "Snake is a friend of nature. A farmer has to thank snakes for his cultivation because without them rats would have been a major problem."
When showing the snakes he uses a hook (custom made), a very scientific tool used by Herpetologists around the globe and he gently lifts up the snakes. His tenderness is only matched by the care he takes of the injured snakes which he keeps in separate places, feeds them regularly, checks up their health.
The place is creeping with hissing snakes but his daunting task keeps them healthy even when they shed skin (which is the most invulnerable time of their life). He has also done a breeding programme and successfully bred about 500 snakes and released them in the nearby forest. Snake breeding is extremely hard and many scientists failed in doing so all over the world. His successful breeding could give great insights into the lives of snake and could help save many snake species.
When asked if he is interested to make a snake venom milking farm, he replies "Snake venom milking is a very profitable business and it could earn millions of revenue as one 10-gm of snake venom is about Tk 0.12 million. But it requires a lab which is very high tech and will require a large amount of money. In this connection, he mentioned, he has already struck a deal with a foreign farm to make anti-venom at his farm.
His Cobra Friends started its journey in December 16, 2009 and now has more than one thousand members.
bwjs123@gmail.com