 | | An Indian animal activist holds snakes during the Naag-panchami, a popular Hindu snake festival, in Bombay August 13, 2002. |
Indian animal rights activists said Tuesday they had rescued about 50 snakes from cruel treatment by their owners during an annual festival.Every year the "Naag Panchami" festival draws snake charmers to cities, especially Bombay and Calcutta, hoping to make money from Hindus who believe the snakes bring good luck.
But Jyoti Nadkarni from the state-run Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said the snakes were often ill-treated. "Some are defanged in the most unprofessional way. They suffer from mouth infection and their poison gland is punctured. We have kept them under medical observation," she told reporters. Forest officials would release the healthier snakes in the jungle, animal rights activists said. For several years animal groups and SPCA inspectors, armed with bags and sacks, have conducted raids before and during the festival to rescue the snakes, many of them cobras. But undeterred, the snake charmers return every year, gathering in Hindu areas, around temples or at railway stations. Poor nomads hunt down the snakes in fields and forests during the monsoon season when they come out in the open after their holes are inundated with rain water. Since the nomads are unable to feed them, the snakes are starved and suffer from severe infections even before being sold to snake charmers, activists say. "A snake is considered a farmer's friend because of its carnivorous nature. It survives on rats, birds, lizards, frogs and not milk as people would like to offer," said Issac Khemkar, spokesman for the Bombay Natural History Society. Animal rights activists say hundreds of snakes die during the festival every year, many as a result of drinking milk which causes severe dehydration and allergic reactions. (Agencies) | 8月13日是印度一年一度的蛇節，印度的動物權力保護者稱，他們在這一天解救了大約50條蛇，使得它們得以脫離苦海。 每年的"Naag Panchami節"都會吸引眾多的耍蛇藝人蜂擁到城市里來，尤其是孟買和加爾各答，他們希望能夠靠此大撈一筆，因為印度教徒相信蛇能夠帶來好運。 但是國家動物保護協會的喬蒂o納德卡爾尼說，這些蛇往往會慘遭虐待。 她告訴記者說："一些蛇被拔去毒牙，方法當然是最不專業的，并且會因此而口腔感染。它們的毒腺往往也被刺破。目前我們一直在對它們進行醫療觀察。" 動物權力保護者說，森林管理官員會把那些健康狀況較好的蛇放歸到叢林中。 幾年來，每到蛇節前夕和節日期間，動物保護團體和英國動物保護協會的檢查員們，就會手拎大袋子，到處搜捕耍蛇人藏匿的蛇，其中大部分是眼鏡蛇。 然而這些行動卻并沒有讓耍蛇者們知難而退，他們依舊是每年返回到印度教地區，聚集在寺廟和火車站周圍耍蛇賣藝。 一些窮苦的牧民會在雨季期間到田間和森林里去捕蛇，因為在這個期間雨水會淹沒蛇洞，而洞里的蛇就會紛紛爬到外面來。 動物保護者們說，由于牧民們沒有能力喂養它們，所以那些蛇往往在賣給耍蛇者之前不是被餓死就是患上嚴重的傷口感染。 孟買自然歷史協會發言人伊薩克o赫姆拉談到："蛇是食肉動物，以田鼠、鳥類、蜥蜴和青蛙為食，而并非靠人們提供的牛奶為生，因此蛇實際上是農民的朋友。" 動物權力保護者說，每年的蛇節期間都會有數百條蛇死去，很多是因為食用了牛奶而導致嚴重脫水和過敏反應造成死亡的。 (中國日報網站譯) |
Updated: 2002-08-16 01:00
