Animal lovers to the core

Their love for animals has to be seen to be believed. These four animal enthusiasts almost risk their lives while rescuing animals that are pretty anti-social. Yes, we're talking about snakes, venomous ones that too!

The team consists of Rohini Kamath (23), Akshay Brijkrishan (23), Chintan Buddhadev (24) and Divyaraj Brahmbhatt (26).

The foursome started their operations in 2008, when they were thrown into the jungles of Lavale, after they joined Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication, for their post-graduate course.

Divyaraj, who learnt about handling snakes from his school days in Mount Abu, said, "The campus is surrounded by a lot of trees and naturally it's a habitat for both venomous and non-venomous snakes. Whenever any student or faculty sees a snake their first reaction is to shriek and then plan how to kill it. That's where we come in."

Akshay, who is the expert on catching these snakes continues, "We help catch these snakes and then release them in areas that are safe for them and away from human habitat. We first identify the snake and accordingly release them in the water or in grasslands around the outskirts of the city."

Passion for work
On what made them join hands to work towards this cause, Chintan elaborates, "We are all passionate about animals, it's not just snakes. We rescue dogs and turtles too. We needed to team up because it makes things easier and we can help each other and, of course, these animals."

Adds Divyaraj, "At first, it was fine to capture the non-venomous snakes we saw around the area. But slowly, we began identifying venomous vipers and kraits. For that we really need to put all our expertise together so that no mishap takes place."

Love for dogs
And their not restricted to just snakes, since Rohini Kamath, the fourth member has a passion for animals to such an extent that she has been a vegan since childhood.

She explains, "We see a number of injured dogs, especially puppies. Some are injured due to accidents, dog fights and some because of mean people who ill treat them. We rescue them, explain their condition to a veterinarian who will suggest first aid treatment that we can administer. We are working on finding homes for these strays, but I think they like it here and we are happy to look after them at our campus."

On their future plans, the group has many. Chintan said, "We are still in touch with NGOs, since we did our internship there and we are working towards helping these strays by vaccinating them and giving them their regular shots. We love working with animals and it's our passion."

From venomous snakes to cute puppies, looks like this group has their paws full!