Irula snake catchers make hisstory in Florida!

TIMES

Ever since they were called to Florida to catch snakes there, two expert snake catchers, Vadivel Gopal and Masi Sadaiyan, from the Irula community in the city, are now popular on social media sites. In 2016, the Florida Wildlife Commission approved the project, and funded the University of Florida to bring two expert Irula snake catchers for a pilot python detection project. Teaming up with Florida herpetologist Joseph Wasilewski, and University of Florida's biologist, Edward Metzger, and Romulus Whitaker (popularly known as India's snake man), the Irula tribesmen have been working there now, doing what they love the most — catching snakes.

"This is a great experience for us — it's a new place, and new friends. Moreover, it's our fathers who are expert in hunting pythons, as we only hunt venomous snakes for the Irula co-operative back home," says one of the tribesmen, Vadivel, talking to us from the US.

Masi adds that Burmese pythons are one of the largest snakes in the world, growing over 20 feet. They are found in India, Myanmar and nearby south-east Asian countries. But now, they are roaming the grounds of Florida because pet owners have been keeping these exotic pythons since the 1980s. Their population is a sizeable one now, and this is having a devastating effect on the local wildlife at the Everglades National Park.

Vadivel and Masi reached Florida on January 7, and in a month's time, they have already caught 27 invasive pythons. Interestingly, one of the python was a huge female snake in Key Largo, nearly 5 metres in length, and weighing 75 kilograms. Ask them about how it is to hunt for snakes in Florida, that too, in a place where they are not familiar with and Masi says. "We are roaming around with locals here — they know the place well, and also have some knowledge about the snakes. Also, Romulus Whitaker used to live here in Florida, and we are learning new things about the place from him, every day."

The duo is also learning a few new things while on the job there. "We are using our old snake-hunting techniques that we learnt from our fathers and grandfathers. But people here use new techniques... they drive alone at the night, and go in search of snakes. They also take air boats, and go into islands of the huge Everglades." Was it tough there, hunting the snakes? "We are snake hunters by birth, and here also, we work hard to find them, just like we do in India. We must be careful while walking through the thick vegetation, we must always look out for poison ivy and poisonwood. Also, we must always watch out for venomous snakes like water Moccasins and Diamondback Rattlesnakes, as they are very dangerous," informs Vadivel. Masi and Vadivel are now enjoying their stint in the US, and say that over the next few weeks, they will be hunting pythons in other protected areas, too. A tribal technology exchange, what say?