Saving Snakebite Victims: Snakebite a Neglected Tropcal Disease

Saving Snakebite Victims: Snakebite a Neglected Tropcal Disease:           About 25,000 to 40,000 people are dying of snakebite in India every year, and of these, many face an agonizing death. but Unfo...

Snake Safety Guidelines: Summary

Snake Safety Guidelines: Summary

Once you have made a realistic assessment of danger and determined that there is a need for intervention, you need to safely move or contain the animal in a way that minimizes risks to officers and bystanders. In some cases you may have the option of calling in a local snake expert who can dispatch the closest licensed volunteer to the scene, but in other cases you will have to deal with the problem yourself. It is important to not to over-react or under-react, but to calmly gain control of the situation. Keep your cool, move slowly and deliberately and keep safety risks minimized by not causing the snake pain, because an injured animal is always a much more dangerous animal. Use long tools or professional snake handling tools to extend your reach.

Realistic assessment of danger - In many cases there is no need for officer intervention. Factors to consider are whether the snake is harmless or venomous, native or an escaped pet, how likely this particular species is to cause problems in the future for humans or pets, and the area (crowded urban or rural). Click here to identify INDIS'a venomous and harmless snakes.

Move or contain - If the snake is determined to be a safety risk to humans, pets or livestock and must be removed from the area, you may have to move or contain the animal using appropriate tools that extend your reach. Don’t put your hands on a snake you have not positively identified as harmless. Don’t assume a snake is harmless because it does not look like one of Central Florida’s four known venomous species.

Call a local snake expert – GCI's wildlife rescue team is an informal network of licensed volunteers who are qualified to deal with nuisance snake removals. Response time can be slow (from 15 minutes to up to 30 minutes or even longer) depending on the location and time of the call and how long it takes to reach a local volunteer. In many cases a snake can be identified as harmless with reasonable confidence over the phone by a local snake expert, and no intervention may be necessary. Click here if you have a live snake contained right now and need to call for an emergency snake pickup.

Keep you cool – Panicking or moving too fast is a common cause of accidents. Move slowly and deliberately. Remember that if a snake gets away from you, that’s okay - the immediate danger is past and you can call in a local snake expert to advise the residents on how to prevent future encounters. Make a reasonable effort to contain the animal, but heroic efforts are not necessary and may put you at risk. Chasing snakes into the bushes is a job best left to the experts.

Don't cause the snake pain – Snakes can usually be moved and contained safely if they are not injured. The more frightened and uncomfortable a snake is, the more it will struggle. A snake that is hurting and in real fear of its life will try much harder to bite and escape. A snake that is can be maneuvered to hide under a box or a jacket tossed on the ground will probably stay still until an expert snake catcher can arrive to identify and capture the animal safely.

Summary:
It is safer to properly move or contain a snake than to injure or kill it.
Keep your cool - always move slowly and deliberately.
Do not cause the snake pain and it will not cause you pain.
Do not escalate the situation and increase your risk by using unnecessary force.
Try to give a snake about one snake-length of space.
Use long tools or professional snake handling tools to extend your reach.

Snake Safety Training & Information

Snake Safety Training & Information

– Realistic Assessment of Danger
If you are called on to deal with a snake problem, you must be able to respond appropriately. You don’t want to over-react or under-react, since inappropriate responses can increase the safety risks to officers as well as bystanders.
In some cases you may be able to call in a snake expert who has the specialized skills necessary to deal with a snake problem or help you deal with it on the phone. NSBI & GCI can always be reached for this purpose. In other cases, you may need to understand how to respond appropriately to a snake situation on your own.
As a general rule, it is safer to use appropriate tools to move and contain a snake than to attempt to kill it. Medical statistics say that the majority of snakebites (over 80 to 95% here in INDIA) occur because of attempts to kill or inappropriately handle a snake. Good professional safety tools such as snake hooks and tongs are designed to allow you to stay at a safe distance so that you can safely move or contain the animal. A safe distance is about one snake-length away from the snake.

Learning to identify snakes and the proper way to safely move and contain snakes will help you respond appropriately and minimize risks to yourself and your community. You can learn to make a realistic assessment of danger by identifying the snake (venomous or harmless) and assessing its surroundings and the immediate circumstances of the call.
Is Officer Response Necessary (or possible)?
Some snake complaints require active intervention, and others do not. Here are some R.A.D. criteria you can use to assess the situation.
Is the snake venomous?
Is the snake in a heavily populated urban area and not able to escape harmlessly into the neighboring woods or sights?
Inside a home or business?
Loose at a crime scene that your officers need to search or investigate?
If so, the animal needs to be safely moved or contained. Here are some common phrases that you will hear on a complaint call that will help you assess the situation and identify the snake.
In other cases it is better to leave the animal alone or frighten it away from a distance using a stream of water from a garden hose or a long tool such as a broom. If you decide to frighten the snake away, remember that you will be much safer if you only scare it a little and make it uncomfortable enough to move. If you hurt the snake on purpose or by accident, you are at much greater risk. A hurt, terrified animal is a much more dangerous animal since it knows that it is fighting for its life. "Don't cause the snake pain, and the snake probably won't cause you pain".

In some cases, no officer intervention may be required. Is the snake harmless? Is the snake outdoors, within a few blocks of a large stretch of undeveloped land where it can escape harmlessly? If so, there is no reason to remove the animal.

In other cases, officer intervention may not be possible. Some types of snakes, most notably the harmless and common, Rat snake, Green tree vine Snake are very fast movers and are likely to be long gone before anyone can arrive. Experienced wildlife nuisance trappers suggest that it is pointless to dispatch anyone on a complaint involving a shiny black snake that was moving quickly. No snake is likely to be found at the scene.

If the snake is no longer visible and the caller does not know where it has gone, it is not usually productive to dispatch an officer to the scene. Hunting snakes in the bushes is a job best left to the experts, and even the experts can end up hunting for many hours and find no snake. The only type of call where anyone (including the Green Cross emergency pickup service) should be dispatched is one where the snake remains visible or is in a known, confined location. "Lost snake calls" where the snake's location is currently unknown should be referred to a paid service such as Snake Removal


Summary:
Identify the snake - venomous, harmless or unidentified?
Identify the surroundings - high traffic, low traffic? Rural or urban?
Will the snake leave on its own with no intervention?
Will the snake leave before intervention is possible?
Decide whether you can (or should) respond.
Decide whether the snake should be moved or removed from the area.
If possible, call a local snake expert for help.90036-33054

Snake & Wildlife Safety Officer Training

 - Introduction -
This online manual is meant to be a companion to the Amateur Snake & Wildlife Professionals  & job seekers officer safety training course offered in GREEN CROSS INDIA . If you are not a public safety officer or wildlife professional you may still find valuable information here, but this Trraining is targeted to the special needs and concerns of police, fire/rescue, animal control and other public safety officers.

If you are a zookeeper, veterinarian or private snake keeper, SWSOT also offers individualized training in hands-on techniques for safe and humane snake restraint, medication, care and maintenance for venomous snakes. 

GCI is a volunteer wildlife rescue Organization working in cooperation with educators, researchers, zoos, universities and reptile rehabilitators. We provide emergency rescue, relocation and rehabilitation services locally, and provide non relocatable specimens, biological samples and data to zoological and academic institutions. Our mission statement is to work towards improving the standards of humane treatment, conservation and care for venomous reptiles in the wild and in captivity if law fully.