DICE Talk: ‘IndianSnakes – Mitigating the biggest human-wildlife conflict’

Malabar pit viper
  "Malabar-pit-viper" by Shaleen Attre.

Present in every nook and cranny of India, snakes play a huge role both ecologically and culturally. What started as a website to catalogue snakes, in the biggest digital field guide for India’s snakes, soon turned into active on-ground conservation work as the statistics on human-snake conflict came to light. Over 100,000 people globally and over 45,000 people die in India every year due to snake bites, making it the biggest human-wildlife conflict in the world. Killed out of fear and retaliation, the mortality numbers for snakes is virtually unknown.

Shaleen Attre, the co-founder of IndianSnakes, will be presenting on the team’s work to actively strengthen peaceful co-existence between serpents and humans, while supporting individuals and organisations working towards a similar cause. Mapping venomous snakes of India, education, awareness and outreach alongside establishing rescuer networks, 24/7 emergency WhatsApp helplines with round-the-clock virtual assistance by doctors, disaster relief management and supporting anti-venom research are some of the more immediate activity happening on the ground as part of this holistic approach to save the lives of snakes and people.

The talk will take place in Templeman Lecture Theatre from 18.00 -19.00 on Thursday 13th June. The talk is free and open to all with free parking on the Canterbury campus from 17.00.

The monthly talks have focused on the work of the Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE) with many of the world’s rarest and most endangered species.

For those who missed previous DICE Talks, many are now available online.

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