Peta Boy

Jesse Randhawa, who is hot on the fashion circuit and a great ramp-walker, and Sandip Soparrkar, who has taught dance moves to Hollywood and Bollywood celebrities, agreed to pose together for PETA’s campaign to save snakes from abusive snake charmers. Randhawa and Soparrkar willingly entertained people with their joint dance performances, and now they want to show people how it feels to be forced to perform, as snakes are.

“Performance should be by choice, not by force”, says supermodel Jesse Randhawa. “Snakes may not scream, but they suffer to entertain us: hear their pain.”

As the month of August begins, so do the preparations for Naag Panchami, which include capturing snakes. Snakes are captured in suffocating bags, kept in tiny boxes and starved. Their teeth are violently yanked out, and many snakes’ mouths are painfully sewn shut before they are brought into cities. The snakes’ venom ducts are often pierced with a hot needle, which causes the glands to burst. Some snakes go blind because the “tikka”, which is applied to their hoods during pooja, trickles into the snakes’ eyes.

Snake charmers set up their baskets on busy street corners and at public festivals. Most snakes shun human contact and would rather flee than fight. But snakes used in these performances are forced to interact with noisy crowds, and they are subjected to excessive human contact.

Even though the Indian Wildlife Act of 1972 banned these cruel displays, snake charmers blatantly disregard the law in order to make a profit. Naag Panchami is held in honour of the Serpent God, Naag Devta. But instead of paying tribute to these fascinating reptiles, people torture them in “charming” displays or by forcing them to drink milk. It is a myth that snakes drink milk.

To sign the petition against this cruelty, log on to www.petaDishoom.com