Milking the Snakes

Photo: Md. Huzzatul Mursalin

Snakes are one of the most feared animals as many snake species possess powerful venom, strong enough to kill a man in one bite. However, snake venom is treasured by pharmaceutical industries all over the world. Interestingly, snake venom is one of the essential components of producing some of the most expensive analgesics, anti-microbial and anti-cancer medicines. So, people who are brave and skillful enough to extract venom from snakes without any fatal accident are quite well paid and well respected. Due to the industrial demand of snake venom, there are snake farms all over the world where these people can be seen collecting the venom by hand. They gently move the fang which instinctively stimulates the snake to release the deadly juice. In Patuakhali district of Bangladesh, there is a snake farm preserving 400 snakes which are milked commercially. A snake milker of the farm says, "The difference between my product and any other farmer's product is that my product can kill me instantly if I make any false move."