The snake farm in Naohata of Paba upazila in Rajshahi is an exceptional farm in the country. The farm is, in fact, a Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre for snakes- to be precisely the name of the farm is Cobra Friends Club.
Soon after its establishment in December-2009, the owner of the farm Borhan Biswas Rumon was sued by the Department of Forestry and the Department of Environment under Wildlife Conservation Act.
Borhan was asked to abandon the farm but braving all odds, Borhan continued the farm with a passion for snakes, rescue and rehabilitate those in proper places at his own initiative.
Borhan studied at Rajshahi University in Social Work and put his social work knowledge and his love of snakes to teach the locals about snakes, stop them from hurting them and he even has a special team in the hospital for snakebite victims.
The 'snake-man' is a character who is young and scientific in his approach to snakes. He respects them and loves them. His work is recognised by famous figures like Dr Farid Ahsan, Chairman of Zoology Department of Chittagong University and Golam Maortoza, Professor of Zoology Rajshahi University. They learned from him instead of the other way around.
He acquired his knowledge of snakes by seer persuasion, he took training from various places he even scoured all over Bangladesh for a good snake handler Shahidul Islam Razzak to help him in his quest for helping not only the snakes but the indigenous population.
He said “A few days ago in Paba upazila alone, 10-12 people died every month in snake bites and now because of his work and the special team in the medical college (Rajshahi Medical College) he was able to reduce the number to 1-2 deaths".
Upon entering the room where he keeps the snakes in a healthy and hygienic way (the envy of most zoos) he tells the people of his dreams, to go further and help even more population.
He talked about the pest problem and how rats destroy crops and he said “snakes are your friends wherever you live. A farmer has to thank snakes for his cultivation because without them rats would have been a major problem and famine would have struck all-around."
When showing the snakes he uses a hook (custom made) very scientific tool used by Herpetologists around the globe and he gently lifts up the snakes.
His tenderness is only matched by the care he takes of the injured snakes which he keeps in separate places, feeds them regularly, checks their health. The place is creeping with hissing snakes but his daunting task keeps them healthy even when they shed skin (which is the most vulnerable time of their life).
He has also a snake breeding programme and successfully bred hundreds of snakes so far and released them in the nearby forest. Snake breeding is extremely hard and many scientists failed in doing so all over the world. And his successful breeding could give a great insight into the lives of the snake and could help save many snake species.
When asked if he is interested to make a snake venom milking farm he replies" Snake milking is a very profitable business and it could earn millions of revenue as one 10 gm of snake venom costs about Taka 1.2 lac. But it requires a lab which is very high tech and will require a large amount of money. Besides venom extraction is illegal in Bangladesh" he added.
His snake club is one of its kind in Bangladesh and is open for everyone who wants to become a member. He only takes a one time fee of taka 500 for membership. A member could join him in taking, caring and learning and teaching people about snakes.
He is more interested to make a snake park and to take more classes in universities, conventions, schools, colleges to teach the people that snakes are not deadly and they only bite in self-defense.
He even made a slide show of various snakes and how could one get first aid on snake bite, how could they identify venomous from non venomous species. He says, "There are 82 species of snakes in Bangladesh and only 28 are venomous but people have no idea about those and they kill and get afraid of snakes for no reason."
He taught in many schools and made lectures in colleges and universities and often makes a remark of people who are scared of snakes just because they do not know about them. When asked about his future plan he says" I want to teach the people about this and I want to help the snakes and work to save those.
His work inspires many people. So far it is learnt, Borhan Biswas Rumon is now working in the hilly, forest region of Chittagong and the Chittagong Hill tracts. This correspondent tried to contact him over his mobile phone to get the remark about his recent activities in snake rescue and conservation. But, he was, perhaps, out of the mobile network.