Koppam: Abbas, the snake-catcher has hundreds of tales of kindness to narrate. He catches venomous snakes that threaten people and collects eggs abandoned by mother snakes, giving them a new life.
Kaipuram Abbas had several visitors at his house as news spread in the village in Palakkad district that he had incubated 33 eggs of a cobra from near the Mulayankavu temple. The cobra was hatching the eggs when he collected them.
Abbas has been an active snake-catcher for 25 years. He swiftly catches venomous snakes that raise a threat in kitchens, racks, walls, fowl cages and cattle sheds. The young man then leaves them safely in the woods.
Abbas claims to have left over 100,000 snakes in the forest areas in the past quarter of a century. Over 250 snakes have been hatched in his glass box at home.
It's a hobby for Abbas to catch snakes, hatch the eggs at home and later leave the snakes in the woods. Abbas first tested the idea in 2009 when he collected 40 eggs of a python found by workers in Karinganattu and hatched them in his glass container. Next year in February, he hatched five eggs of a rare snake. All five were left safely in the forests.
In 2012, Abbas gave a new life to 57 water snake babies when he left them in the waters after hatching.
The eggs are hatched in two months under electric lights. It might need more time in cold weather. Abbas does all this with the approval of the Forest Department and says he only expects God's mercy in return.
He never had any trouble from snakes; nor has there been any accidents related to his work. Abbas says his wife Jameela as well as daughter Nasreena helps him in attending to cases of snake infection.