Accidental snakebite deaths more common than previously reported

Living in an impoverished country, very distant from modern medical comforts such as hospitals and anti-venom, is the leading cause of most snake bite related deaths. Often help is just too far out of reach. From the BBC:

It is often impossible to know exactly which snake species was responsible for a bite; identification is particularly difficult in developing countries as the majority of snake-bites are inflicted at night in rural communities that do not have electricity or artificial lighting. Then the victim, who often lives in an impoverished remote place, has to find suitable medical treatment before the toxic venom leads to permanent disfigurement or death. Late last year, an international team of researchers from Costa Rica, Australia, Brazil and the UK published an academic paper calling for a more integrated approach to dealing with snake-bites.

In the land of the King Cobra as well as "The Big Four",(Saw Scale Viper, Krait, Indian Cobra and the Russel's Viper), death by snake bite is common. Prevention requires educating people on living with snakes. Enter Rom Whitaker, Founder of the Madras Croc Bank, to help the locals live with the snakes around them.

The BBC documentary One Million Snakebites details how one expert in India, Romulus Whitaker, is trying to engage and educate local communities about the snakes living around them. By helping local communities to understand and respect the snakes they share their land with, passionate herpetologist Whitaker hopes that snakes such as the threatened king cobra will no longer be persecuted. Whitaker has worked with the Irula tribe, who have a long tradition of snake catching, to create a cooperative that now supplies snake venom to laboratories across the country to create lifesaving antivenom, the only effective treatment for snake-bites.

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