Volunteer snake rescuers say they miss the Forest Service

A section of certified snake rescue volunteers enrolled in the state network ‘Sarpa Mitra’ in rural areas of Kozhikode district have registered a strong protest against the forest department alleging lack of adequate administrative and logistical support to continue their work.

Volunteers, especially those working in the Thamarassery forest range, say the forest department has stopped collecting rescued snakes from them. They claim they are now forced to bear the cost of transporting the rescued snakes to the enclosure offices themselves to complete the legal formalities.

Volunteers point out that they perform snake rescue as a service while making a living by doing other odd jobs. They say they receive no additional income or grant from the government for the work. According to them, spending money out of their own pockets to transport rescued snakes for release is hardly a viable option.

“We have to travel about 25 kilometers from Mukkom to reach the Thamarassery range office and hand over the rescued snakes. Many of my friends are withdrawing from the field due to the apathy of the forest forces in providing on-site assistance in collecting the rescued snakes,” says a local rescuer from Mukkom. He points out that withdrawing volunteers from the field is likely to leave mountain dwellers in dire straits as they have no other readily available options in an emergency.

Meanwhile, sources in the forest department say that the increasing number of rescue calls from the hilly areas and shortage of field-level personnel often hamper their routine tasks in the departments. They add that the range offices need more emergency vehicles and support staff to fully deal with the concerns raised by local volunteers.

Published – 20 Jul 2026 18:56 IST