"The snake is not dancing, it's terrified. All it wants to do is escape"
It may be a major draw for tourists around the world, but snake charming remains controversial for its abusive practices.
It may be a major draw for tourists around the world, but snake charming remains controversial for its abusive practices.
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AnimalsTranscript
00:00Snake charmer's federation of india estimates there are about 800 000
00:30Snake charming is a brutal illegal cruel means of livelihood that is not necessary there is no
00:46place in civilized society for people to go around catching snakes and taking them and doing a you
00:51know some kind of an entertainment show with snake
01:08foreign
01:16what's going on
02:07It's also important to understand that the venom that venomous snakes have, like cobras,
02:19etc.
02:20They are highly concentrated protein and the snakes need that protein to digest their food.
02:26And if you take away, it's like taking away the bile from your stomach.
02:30It's not going to be able to eat or digest its food.
02:32Obviously the snake is going to get weak.
02:35They often get a mouth infection and they start getting weaker and weaker each day.
02:54Snakes don't have ears.
02:55They cannot even hear the music that the snake charmer is playing.
02:59So obviously they cannot dance.
03:01The snake charmer sits in front of the snake with his flute and is moving constantly or
03:07he's moving his knee when he's sitting down, crouching down below or beside the snake.
03:13And so the snake is just merely moving, looking at the flute or the knee or an object of movement
03:21that is looking like a threat.
03:24So the snake is not dancing at all.
03:26Far from it, the snake is terrified and all it wants to do is escape.
03:57The snake charmer will nail the head to a tree, use a blade and slit it around the neck
04:03and then peel the entire skin off the live snake like a stocking.
04:09You can imagine the excruciating pain and agony that the snake will go through when
04:16it suffers something like that.
04:17And that is the ugly truth behind snake charming.
04:22So thousands and thousands of snakes die every single day as victims of snake charming.
04:29This law makes it illegal to hunt, capture or hold in possession or kill any animal,
04:51any wild animal.
04:53And snakes are all protected.
04:55A snake charmer could technically, if he did not have an ownership certificate from
05:00the chief paralegal warden of the state, be punished with a jail sentence of up to seven
05:06years and he would have a fine that he would have to pay the government as well.
06:26Tuesday to call on the government to make the practice legal again.
06:29While officially illegal, the practice is still common, especially in tourist areas
06:33and small villages.
06:35This is a practice that was outdone a long time ago.
06:51It is illegal in India and it needs to really stop.
06:55And certainly tourism and people who think that this is something special need to not
07:00incentivize or reward this.
07:03Instead, we should encourage these people to take up alternative livelihoods and give
07:08up snake charming.