American Tourist Hails Kannada Woman's Kind Gesture Of Giving Water To A Dying Snake
Coexistence is the way of nature, where both animals and humans have their own space. Unfortunately, it is an ever-shrinking space and the number of human-animal conflicts are on the rise at an alarming scale. More often than not it is the animals who are rapidly losing their habitat that is on the receiving end of the conflict. However, for a large section, who share the space with the animals they are one among them.
An American traveller has shared one such incident that he came across in India. James Adams, who claims to have travelled around the world shared the photo of a woman pouring water on a dying snake in India.
According to Adams's Facebook post, he was near the Someshwara Wildlife Sanctuary in Karnataka when he came across a spectacled cobra that had been hit by a car and we pulled over upon seeing it was still moving. As they stopped to check on the snake, a woman who had been carrying firewood along the road appeared with a small jar and gently poured cool water over the snake's writhing body.
Adamas also added that the woman was whispering things in Kannada that he could not understand.
But the story doesn't even end there. "Within minutes a small crowd of villagers appeared and began discussing who would contact a priest to offer the animal last rites so that it could die in peace," Adams wrote further.
"The degree of respect and reverence shown this snake was so profound and so unlike anything I've seen in my home country or anywhere else I've traveled," said Adamas adding that kind act moved him so much that he was nearly in tears.
While this is truly an appreciable act, these are not uncommon. The Bishnoi Tribe in Rajasthan is probably the best example of having such compassion for the animals around them, especially the deers.
There have been several instances where Bishnoi women were photographed breastfeeding deers, sometimes while holding their kids.
One of the most famous such photos was posted by Michelin-starred chef Vikas Khanna on Instagram in 2018. The image showed a Bishnoi woman breastfeeding a baby deer.
He added that a member of the community told him she had similarly breastfed and saved many orphaned and injured baby deer.
Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer and Wildlife Photographer Parveen Kaswan shared the photo saying: This is how Bishnoi community in Jodhpur cares for animals. These lovely animals are no less than children to them. A lady feeding one. The same people, who fought King in 1730 and laid 363 life protecting Khejri trees.