Meet Snake Master Vava Suresh, Kerala's Steve Irwin who escaped yet another venomous bite
India Today
Who is Vava Suresh, often likened to 'The Crocodile Hunter' Steve Irwin? What makes him so famous? Here is the story of 'Snake Master' Vava Suresh who rescues, captures, and even pets the deadly reptiles.
Vava Suresh, a famous snake catcher and wildlife conservationist from Kerala, was recently bitten by a cobra that he was attempting to rescue from a house in Kottayam district. Suresh tied up his wound, rescued the cobra, and then got admitted to a hospital. The video of the incident went viral and Vava Suresh, who is still recovering from the snake bite, hit headlines once again.
Who is Vava Suresh, often likened to 'The Crocodile Hunter' Steve Irwin? What makes him so famous? Here is the story of 'Snake Master' Vava Suresh who rescues, captures, and even pets the deadly reptiles.
Vava Suresh was born into poverty and lived in a small house in Thiruvananthapuram's Sreekaryam town. Suresh's fascination with snakes began during his childhood. A lean 12-year-old Suresh was on his way to school in mid-1980s when he had his first encounter with a snake. Suresh caught hold of the cobra and brought the snake home. Suresh made the snake crawl inside a bottle and kept it for 15 days. This was the beginning of a long 'friendship' with the deadly reptiles. Suresh quit schooling and has since caught over more than 30,000 snakes and has received 3,000 odd bites.
Vava Suresh has been catching snakes as a social service for over 30 years now and assists the Kerala forest department. Whenever a venomous snake is spotted in Kerala, Vava Suresh is called upon to rescue the reptile. Suresh has travelled to almost every remote town in Kerala and is fondly known as the snake master. He's reported to have caught nearly 200 highly venomous king cobras, which are relatively more dangerous as anti-venom antidotes for the poison they secrete are not easily available.
YouTube videos showing his live encounters with snakes are huge hits in the state. Vava Suresh is known not to use hooks or other sharp tools to catch the reptiles. Vava Suresh is like Kerala's version of Steve Irwin and has his own TV show called 'Snake Master' on a Malayalam channel.
Apart from rescuing snakes, Vava Suresh has said he also devotes time to conservation efforts. According to Suresh, loss of habitat and environmental changes are the primary reasons behind snake-human encounters. As part of his conservation efforts, Suresh has hatched over 20,000 snake eggs and later released them into forests. His home is a mini 'snake park'.
According to reports, Vava Suresh has been bitten by over 3,000 snakes of which 396 were bites from venomous snakes. One of his most dangerous encounters was in 2020.
