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Old January 4th, 2010 #98
Alex Linder
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[We've let millions of brown wackos who think like their brothers below into this country over the last 40 years.]

‘Mafia driving Red Sand Boa mania’

04 Jan 2010

BANGALORE: Red Sand Boa isn’t a deadly snake. But of late, this snake - which goes by the code name ‘double engine’ - fetches around Rs 10 lakh in illegal wildlife trade. Considered to bring fortune if offered pooja, there has been a surge in sand boa trade, prompting the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) to issue a letter to all the chief wildlife wardens (CWW) of South India to control the illegal trade of this snake.

“Sand Boa isn’t generally found in and around Bangalore. But our team of authorised snake-rescuers gets at least one genuine enquiry regarding the snake every day,” says Sharat Babu R, honorary wildlife warden of Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).

Sharat says that some members of the religious fraternity, snake-charmers and an underworld gang are spreading the belief that if one worships the snake, he or she stands to gain a lot of money. He says that the snake is even rented out for pooja on an hourly basis.

Due to the propaganda, a large number of people including NRIs, government officials and politicians, come to South India in search of the Red Sand Boa.

It is seen that many households in villages around Bagepalli, Hiriyur, Kanakapura and Chitradurga have huge claypots filled with soil and a Red Sand Boa. Often the snake is overfed with edible and non-edible stuff to increase its weight, as the price of the snake is proportionate to its weight.

Sharat said that most of the time devotees ended up being robbed by conmen as there was always a huge amount of money involved. The situation was alarming and it needed to be handled urgently, he said.

When contacted, chief wildlife warden BK Singh said that they had received a letter from the WCCB pertaining to Red Sand Boa and that the department was preparing a reply.

http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/s...P3XGzZRCAUTQ==