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The Irula Co-operative society is a self-help project recognised by the State government of Tamil Nadu. The project taps the skills of the Irula tribe in venom production, rodent control and termite control. The Irulas are expert snake catchers and this skill was earlier being exploited by smuggling cartels to procure snakeskins for the international market. But following the ban of this trade for ecological reasons, the Irulas were deprived their means of living. The Irula Snake Catcher’s Society now buys venomous snakes from the Irula members, extracts the venom and then the snakes are released back to the wild. The venom is then sold to laboratories.
The antidote is prepared by injecting a small and non lethal dose of venom ‘milked’ from the fangs of a live King Cobra, into a healthy horse. Once the horse’s body has developed antibodies to the venom, blood is removed from the jugular vein of the horse. The blood is then mixed with an anticoagulant and a preservative, and the antibodies are separated and stored as antivenin. The snakes from which venom is extracted are known as the ‘Big Four’. They are the most dangerous snakes in India - the Cobra, Krait, Russells Viper and Saw scaled Viper. The venom is extracted at the Snake Venom Extraction Centre located in the precincts of the Madras Crocodile Bank (MCB) on East Coast Road. Uses of Snake Venom Snake venom is used to make anti-venom serum – the only real cure for snakebites. Another use of snake venom is in medicine, as it contains many useful enzymes, proteins and toxins. Russells Viper Venom is a coagulant and is used to control bleeding, while Cobra venom is used to control Cancer and also relieve pain. Captive breeding of King Cobra at Madras Crocodile Bank The Madras Crocodile Bank or Centre for Herpetology successfully bred King Cobras in 1996. 29 hatchlings resulted from the eggs of three females. Although King Cobras are primarily snake-eaters in nature, the hatchlings and the adults that produced them have become accustomed to feeding on rats. The largest of the hatchlings is now 2.45 meters and the others average 1.2 – 1.4 meters. Click here to know more about Snake Park in Guindy, Madras Crocodile Bank or its Director - Romulus Whitaker | THE KING COBRA | | The King Cobra (Ophiophagus Hannah) or ‘Nalla Pambu’ as it is known in Tamil, is considered the most dangerous of all snakes. It lives near streams, in dense or open forests, bamboo thickets, or adjacent agricultural areas and dense mangrove swamps. It is found in South West and North East India, East to South East China including Hong Kong, throughout the Malay Peninsula and East to Western Indonesia and the Phillipines. A number of geographically distinct variations with a number of colour / pattern variations are known due to the King’s broad geographic range. The King's head is as big as a man’s hand and the amount of venom from one bite of the King is enough to kill an elephant or 20 people. King Cobras are the only snakes known to construct a nest for their eggs. The female scoops rotted leaves and similar vegetation into a pile and the material is gathered together using the loops of the body. The nest is generally composed of two compartments in which the lower one holds 20 to 40 eggs and the guarding female occupies the upper compartment. The female remains with the nest throughout the 60 to 85 day incubation period and will remain until the hatching occurs. The female Cobra leaves the nest after hatching and the hatchlings are left to fend for themselves. The male plays no part in taking care of the nest or after the eggs hatch. | | | 
