A new campaign titled ‘I Brake for Snakes’ was launched at the first Serpentdine lunch event organised by Herpactive, a conservation enterprise at The Pier, Seaside Bistro in Vasco. The campaign aims to reduce the number of road kills in Goa of snakes, and other wildlife through an array of conservation-driven interventions and media support. Herpactive will lead this campaign whose stickers and logo were launched on June 18 as the beginning of a state-wide initiative.
Every year, scores of snakes get killed during road crossings, especially in the monsoon months and this campaign, a brainchild of Nirmal Kulkarni, is aimed at raising awareness amongst motorists and hoping to save vital lives as well as ecologically important species. As part of the campaign, an ‘I Brake for Snakes’ car bumper sticker was launched at the hands of Dr Freston Marc Sirur and Dr Tushar Vaidya, along with Nirmal Kulkarni, herpetologist, and host of the Serpentdine event.
Nirmal spoke about the aims of the campaign, “This is as an attempt to bring empathy and awareness for vehicle drivers to slow down when they see a snake, a frog or any animal cross the roads, and give it the right of way, especially in forested areas in the State.” Earlier on, the Serpentdine event saw over 40 rescuers, researchers and snake enthusiasts come together to learn and share views on snake rescue, rehabilitation, and the growing threats to habitats due to rapid urbanisation.
Speakers including Benhail Antao, Amrut Singh and Alex Carpentar spoke of the need for habitat conservation and tolerance for snake to reduce human-snake conflicts. Aaron Fernandes, another snake rescuer highlighted the challenges faced by rescuers and the need for raising consciousness about wildlife amongst Goan youth and children.
