Why 80% of India’s Life-Saving Anti-Venom Depends on This Tribal Community

Featured image courtesy: BBC

A snake slides out of a bamboo basket, its scales catching the light. An Irula tribesman grips it gently, calm and focused. Within minutes, a few drops of venom fall into a glass vial — enough to save lives miles away.

This simple act carries enormous weight. Every year, India accounts for nearly half of the world’s snakebite deaths, according to the World Health Organization. In a country where thousands die from snakebites, anti-venom is survival—and it starts with this moment.

At the heart of this work is the Irula community. Once feared as snake hunters, they have turned their generational knowledge into a lifeline for India. Today, venom extraction is their primary craft, making them vital to anti-venom production nationwide. The Irulas contribute nearly 80 percent of the venom used to create this life-saving serum.

How they do it

Each captured snake is looked after for up to 21 days, housed in earthen pots filled with cool sand. During this time, venom is drawn three or four times. After extraction, the snakes are released back into the wild, unharmed but marked to prevent recapture. Their methods are efficient, humane, and steeped in tradition.

But this work is dangerous. Many Irula tribesmen have suffered venomous bites, with some even slipping into comas. Despite the constant risk and meagre earnings, they continue undeterred, driven by a sense of purpose and the wealth of ancestral knowledge. 

And their resilience has not gone unnoticed. In 2023, veterans like Masi Sadaiyan and Vadivel Gopal were honoured with the Padma Shri for their extraordinary contribution to public health and conservation.

But the Irulas are not only snake catchers. They are guardians of life, standing between deadly bites and timely cures. Their inherited expertise and dedication deserve not only protection but celebration, for they have turned age-old knowledge into a lifeline for today.

Source:

'Snakebite envenoming': by World Health Organization, Published on 12 September 2023