Legal protection of snakes in Indian under Wildlife (Protection ) Act-1972

Many people ask why these dangerous, slim snakes are protected as the beautiful tiger and majestic elephant are, under The Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 of the country? 

First of all, let us understand that snakes are a part of wildlife and in India, all wildlife is protected under strict laws.

People are not aware about the fact that snakes are protected and even the well educated crowd form urban areas also consider that a snake should be treated like a terrorist in the neighbourhood.

 “So you are telling me that if I kill this cobra, I will be arrested?“ I still remember the guy who was holding an iron road when I was trying to pull a cobra from a cement pipe, in the middle of a night.  He must have been very upset as I was stealing the show from him, in front of large crowd who had gathered around ….us? in the middle of the night to watch the drama. In fact, the 5-foot long, and …ly angry cobra was giving me a hard time and I was wondering if my father saw me doing this, he may snatch that iron rod from him (what is his name? that can be put here), hit me first and then deal with the snake.
Jokes apart, Snakes are protected under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, across the country and killing some species could get you in some serious trouble. 
Snake is considered as a “wild animal” under the definitions of WLP.  Wild animal refers to any animal specified in Schedules I to IV and found wild in nature. (WLP-1972 Def- 2.36).

So can? we classify snake as an animal?
  Yes. The definition of an “animal according to the WPA?“  includes mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, other chordates and invertebrates and  their young  and eggs too.( WLP,1972 def:2.1) The act clearly include snakes, snake eggs and the young snakes under the hood of the law.

Killing a snake, which is now a protected wild-animal, comes under the definitions of hunting as per the act.  The legal definition “Hunting “, with its grammatical variations and cognate expressions includes:

Hope you don’t have a snake in the house right NOW, and you weren’t checking the internet to find out whether you can kill the snake.  If so find the nearest snake rescuer and let him deal with the snake.   Check our rescue network here

Our laws provide protection to the snakes for a number of reasons. Snakes are part of our ecosystems and they play a vital role in pest-control. Along with that, they form a vital part of the food chain as a prey as well as a predator. In the past, across the country, snakes were killed for commercial exploitation as their skins were in high-demand in the leather industry. Wallets, bags, purse, belts and other fashion accessories made out of snake skin are still in great demand and are fetch high prices.  Thousands of rat snakes, pythons, cobras, Russell’s Vipers were killed just for their skin in India and the skins were exported to other countries for huge profits. Our lawmakers saw the danger and decided to protect the snakes under our laws to ensure that our snakes do not disappear because of human greed.

Killing a snake like cobra or rat snake is a non-bailable offence under the Wildlife Protection Act ( WLP- section 09- Prohibition of Hunting ) and considering the fact  that the cobra is  protected under the Schedule II, Part II of the act. 

Well, all these creepy –crawlies (venomous or not) are  protected under the Wild Life (Protection) Act. The punishments may vary from a three year imprisonment to a fine, or both as per the placement of the species under the schedules.  Remember, when a Python is placed in Sch-I of the act, the protection is given under the law to this snake is as high as the protection given to a tiger, elephant or any other animal protected under schedule-I of the act. The only reason, why we are not aware about the protection levels is because no one told us about the legal status and protection given to the snakes.
Now you might be thinking our law is blind and the lawmakers never really thought about the problems the common-man of the country faces. 
But in fact, it is not like that.

Under section II of the act, it is clearly stated that “The killing or wounding in good faith of any wild animal in defence of oneselfor of any other person shall not be an offence “.  Therefore if and when you kill any snake, you are liable to prove that you have done it in self defence and under the wildlife protection Act, as the accused is liable to prove his innocence. We all know that people kill snakes out of fear, but ignorance of the law is never an excuse.

Like every other wild animal, snakes do have a right to survive on this planet. In India, there are only four common venomous snakes which can cause death to a human and the rest are as harmless as a myna (really?) in your garden.  Our culture, myths, stories and all those “naagin” movies ( Hissssss…. too, how can I forget Mallika Sherawat?)  propagated a lot of fear in our minds about snakes.

When you spot a snake  around,  you just need to ensure it is not disturbed. If it is trapped in a place and cannot get out of it by itself, then call a nearby snake rescue expert <>.  You may have someone in your area who can deal with a snake. Never  think about killing or injuring it, as most of the snake-bites occur  when people try to kill the snake, and when they are in danger, the venomous snakes will try to make use of their deadly venom to save themselves. Non venomous snakes also bite in defence, but they can’t cause any serious damage  to a human being.

As mentioned earlier, snakes help us by controlling the pests in our crop-fields and store-houses across the world. Think about the rat snakes and cobras who silently deal with the rats which eat up our food-grains. Next time when you see a rat which quietly polished off the cookies you kept on the kitchen table, you should remember the snakes and the silent service they provide to human kind.