On October 10, following in the footsteps of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, Kerala declared snakebite envenomation a disease of public health importance under the Kerala Public Health Act, 2023. This notification is in accordance with the Centre’s directive to implement the 2024 National Action Plan for Snakebite Envenoming, an initiative to halve snakebite-related deaths in India by 2030. Of the nearly 78,600 snakebite deaths annually reported worldwide, over 64,000 deaths occur in India, according to a study published in the peer-reviewed journal, Nature Communications, in 2022.
Dr. Ajan M.J., Assistant Director, Health and Family Welfare Department, who is the State nodal officer for snakebite envenomation management, says the notification will enable more accurate tracking of snakebite cases, including their frequency, severity, and geographic spread. “This, in turn, will provide clearer epidemiological insights by revealing trends, hotspots, and vulnerable populations. More importantly, it will help us ensure adequate stock of ASV (anti-snake venom) in high-incidence regions and in boosting hospital readiness,” he says.
This moment did not appear out of nowhere. It was shaped, painfully and irrevocably, by a sequence of events that forced the State to confront the cost of human-wildlife conflict.
Also Read | High costs, poor training deepen India’s stinging snakebite toll
Danger in a crevice
On the morning of November 20, 2019, Shehala Sherin, 10, set out for school with a lunch box in hand. Sherin, a Class 5 student at the Government Sarvajana Vocational Higher Secondary School in Sulthan Bathery in Wayanad district, was accompanied by her cousin Nihal N. Firoz, also 10 years old.
On that cool afternoon, when she was in the classroom, Sherin’s foot slipped into a crevice beneath her bench. She cried out. Her parents Abdul Azis N.V. and Sajna Aysha later learnt that a venomous snake curled up there had bitten her.
“A place that should have been a haven for our child became the beginning of our nightmare,” says Azis, recalling the worst day of his life.
To make matters worse, there was a delay in taking Sherin to the hospital. “She was lying in pain as people stood confused around her. I arrived at the school at 3:50 (p.m.) and took her to the hospital.” Sherin had been bitten nearly 40 minutes earlier. There was already redness and swelling in that area and she was in visible pain.
They rushed the child to a private hospital nearby, which referred her to the Sulthan Bathery Taluk Hospital, nearly 2 kilometres away. “While the hospital had an adequate stock of ASV, they did not have ventilator support,” says Azis. The doctors recommended that she be taken to the Kozhikode Government Medical College, nearly 90 km away.
“Her condition had deteriorated rapidly by then. On the way, the ambulance went to the Vythiri Taluk Hospital, where doctors again said they could not handle the case,” Azis says. From there, Sherin was shifted to a private hospital in Chelod, around 5 km away. At 6:15 p.m., she was pronounced dead.
“The classroom floor had cracks and no pest control checks had been carried out,” alleges Azis. “No one took responsibility for the safety of children in that school. Not the teachers, not the administration.”
The incident exposed the inability of the State to handle snakebite cases even though 123 people had died of snakebite during 2018-2019. The preventable death of a child led the Kerala High Court to initiate suo moto proceedings on December 9, 2019. This resulted in major school infrastructural upgrades and safety guidelines.
Also Read | Blood of man bitten by hundreds of snakes leads to strong anti-venom
Using snakes as a weapon
Just months after Sherin’s death, a snakebite again dominated headlines in Kerala. In May 2020, a bank clerk from Kollam city, Sooraj Kumar, used a venomous snake to kill his wife, Uthra. He clutched the Indian cobra by its hood and pressed it near Uthra while she was sleeping. The agitated snake bit her twice, killing her. Cobra venom can kill a person in hours by paralysing respiratory muscles.
An Indian cobra.
| Photo Credit:
Kerala Forest Department
This was not Kumar’s first attempt at killing his wife, the investigation revealed. Two months earlier, he had tried to kill Uthra by releasing a Russell’s viper, another venomous snake, into the bedroom. The viper had bitten her, but she survived after hospitalisation. While that was dismissed by the family as an unfortunate accident, Uthra’s parents filed a police complaint after her death. The police arrested Kumar.
During their investigation, the police learnt that Kumar had bought the snakes from traditional snake charmers and unlicensed handlers who illegally keep wild snakes in captivity. His motive was to get hold of Uthra’s gold and claim her life insurance payout. The Additional District and Sessions Court-VI, Kollam, deemed the case “rarest of the rare”, and sentenced Kumar to a double life term along with 17 years of rigorous imprisonment.
Yet another tragic incident occurred in July that year when Zakir Hussain, a snake catcher, died after being bitten by a cobra he had rescued from a house in Navaikulam, Thiruvananthapuram. He reportedly carried out the rescue by grabbing the snake with his bare hands, as was the prevalent practice then, and displayed it proudly to onlookers. “The snake bit him on his right wrist and the venom rapidly spread through the vein,” says Assistant Conservator of Forests, Muhammed Anwar Y.
Also Read | Call for region-specific antivenoms to save snakebite victims
The success of SARPA
Kerala, with its dense tropical forests, extensive wetlands, and high population density, has for years grappled with the deadly threat of snakebites. The region is home to more than 130 snake species, of which around 10 are venomous, according to the Forest Department.
Snake envenoming, often occurring in agricultural fields, forested areas, and urban spaces, has always presented a major health challenge. Data from the State Health Department show that nearly 5,000 cases of snakebites are reported annually in the State. Yet, the actual figures could be far higher, with many snakebite incidents going unreported, particularly in rural areas. Besides the human toll, over the past decade, nearly 70% of the wildlife-related deaths reported in Kerala have been due to snakebites, according to the department.
The deaths of Uthra and Hussain and especially Sherin were turning points in the State’s response to the crisis. “They prompted the Forest Department to launch SARPA (Snake Awareness, Rescue, and Protection App) in August 2020,” Anwar points out. The mobile application connects people with trained rescuers, provides first-aid information on snakebites, and assists people with identifying snake species.
The senior forest official adds that the initiative is the first of its kind in India. With traditional rescue methods deemed unscientific and risky, snake rescuers and department officials are now trained in the scientific ‘bag and pipe’ method using safety gear. This is a technique that involves the use of a pipe inserted into a sturdy cloth bag to guide a snake to safety without direct physical contact. So far, nearly 6,200 people have received training under the programme. These include people from a cross-sections of society, including doctors, professors, advocates, IT professionals, casual labourers, and researchers.
Anwar, who is also the State nodal officer of SARPA, says the initiative has been successful. “Within five years, snakebite-related deaths have reduced from 123 in 2018-19 to 34 in 2024-25,” he says. There have been 14 deaths so far during the ongoing fiscal, with the latest being reported on November 21, when an infant was bitten by a cobra in Malappuram. “Nearly 58,000 snakes have been safely rescued and released back into their natural habitats,” he adds.
Pramod G. Krishnan, Chief Wildlife Warden, says the recent declaration of snakebite envenomation as a notifiable disease will be a “shot in the arm” for Kerala’s goal of zero snakebite deaths by 2030. The Forest Department is now all set to launch the second phase of SARPA with expanded resources and training.
Environmental and lifestyle shifts have also contributed to fewer human-snake encounters. “The elimination of open defecation, near-universal LPG coverage and reduced dependence on firewood, and mechanised farming practices have all helped,” says Dr. Jaideep C. Menon, Professor, Adult Cardiology and Public Health, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Kochi.
Besides, the Local Self Government Department, the General Education Department, and other departments have adopted many precautionary measures. “Safety audits are being regularly conducted in schools before each academic year to identify and rectify potential hazards,” Anwar says.
The State has also prioritised supplying safety equipment, including gumboots and gloves, to Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) workers, given the risks of snake encounters in rural regions.
Shyamala M., a MGNREGS worker in Palode, Thiruvananthapuram, points out that she is now given gloves while carrying out tasks such as clearing vegetation. “Last year, one of my colleagues was bitten by a hump-nosed pit viper. Incidents like that used to be common,” she says.
Snake rescuers undergo training during a workshop held in Thiruvananthapuram in 2023.
| Photo Credit:
KERALA FOREST DEPARTMENT
Wayanad-based physician Dr. Rajesh Kumar M.P., who also serves as a SARPA educator, says efforts are being made to spread awareness about snakes and venomous species, particularly among the youth. SARPA Padam, an educational programme, is being rolled out across educational institutions. Awareness sessions are also conducted for groups such as Kudumbasree.
Also Read | Study finds climate change could drive new snakebite hotspots in India
The hurdles that remain
Despite achieving significant progress in handling snakes and preventing snakebite-related fatalities, Kerala still faces challenges, however.
Nationally, snakebite mitigation largely centres around the Big Four snake species — the Indian cobra, the common krait, the Russell’s viper, and the saw-scaled viper. However, in Kerala, the hump-nosed pit viper is increasingly responsible for snakebite cases. The viper is an endemic species to the Western Ghats.
Dr. Menon attributes the rise in hump-nosed pit viper bites to the shift in agricultural patterns from paddy cultivation to plantation-based cash crops, such as rubber and cardamom. The venomous species is known to prefer cool, moist environments, such as dense forests and plantations. It is mostly found in leaf litter and thick bushes.
The polyvalent ASV that is produced in India utilises venom from the Big Four. However, studies have shown that it is ineffective in neutralising the venom of the hump-nosed pit viper.
Dr. Menon, who also heads the ICMR-Collaborative Centre of Excellence in Snakebite, stresses the need to establish regional venom collecting centres. “This is necessary to improve antivenom production by developing both region-specific and species-specific antivenoms,” he says.
At present, like most other States, Kerala relies on the ASV produced from the venom extracted by the Irula Snake Catchers’ Industrial Cooperative Society in Chengalpattu, Tamil Nadu. The Irula are an indigenous community known for their traditional skills in snake and rat catching. In July 2025, while inaugurating the World Snake Day observance in Thiruvananthapuram, Forest Minister A.K. Saseendran announced plans to locally produce ASV to address the perceived ineffectiveness of current antivenoms due to geographical variation in venom potency.
Sustaining SARPA’s momentum is another challenge, according to a senior forest official. Of the 3,300 trained and licensed snake rescuers, fewer than 1,000 remain active. “While many snake enthusiasts have undergone training in snake rescue, they are rarely available on short notice, given their daily jobs,” the official says.
A rapid response team (RRT) member in Pathanamthitta points out that snake-related emergencies in the region are primarily handled by Forest Department personnel, largely due to the lack of licensed snake handlers in the area. While RRT teams have been effective in managing a range of emergencies, their resources are increasingly being stretched, particularly as forest fringe areas report a rise in conflicts involving other wild animals such as elephants and wild boars. To address the issue, the department is mulling steps to ensure at least one active licensed snake handler in each local body.
Persisting medical challenges too remain a significant barrier to effective snakebite management. “There is clinical hesitancy in administering ASV, primarily due to fear of anaphylaxis (a severe, life-threatening allergic reaction). This is often linked to inadequate training and insufficient infrastructure to manage complications,” says a health officer.
Timely and effective pre-hospital care too is vital in reducing snakebite-related mortality. While emergency services exist, most snakebite victims still rely on private transport. Experts have called for strengthening ambulance services to include snakebite management protocols, and for implementing a hub-and-spoke model, where community health centres and taluk hospitals support a network of primary health centres.
Herpetologist Sandeep Das says Kerala’s focus on snakebite mitigation in recent times has had a cascading effect on conservation efforts. “Snakes play a vital role in maintaining a healthy ecosystem by controlling rodent population. This in turn helps reduce the spread of zoonotic diseases,” he says.
Das, who has been actively involved in SARPA and Snakepedia, a comprehensive database on snake species found in Kerala, adds that there has been a perceptible shift in public attitudes towards snakes. “Where fear and hostility once dominated, there is now a growing sense of awareness and respect for these often misunderstood reptiles. Increasingly, people are recognising their ecological importance and the need to respond to encounters with scientific knowledge, rather than fear-driven actions like killing them on sight,” he says.
As the State pushes towards its goal of zero snakebites, the systemic overhaul sparked by a child’s death continues to serve as both a cautionary tale and a catalyst for change.
sarath.bg@thehindu.co.in
