User:Snakeshivu

Snake-Shivu full name Shivakumar S Patil a resident of Hubli, Karnataka was born on 23-07-1975,

'''Shivakumar. S. Patil, popularly known as Snake Shivu''', is a snake enthusiast, wildlife conservationist in Hubli, India. Though not a trained herpetologist, he is known throughout the Hubli region as a "Snakeshivu". Shivu rescues and rehabilitates snakes and educates the public about them. He is also sometimes consulted by local hospitals to identify a species of snake prior to treating a snakebite victim.

Background
Shivu was born to Subbanna Patil and Geethamma Patil in Hosaholalu in the state of Karnataka, India, which is in the Mandya District. He demonstrated his interest in snakes at an early age of 13, after a school function at his home town he saw a frog and caught it for his surprice along came a cobra holding the frog in its mouth, he was scared and had fever for a week long. That sparked the interest in him for snakes. From this incident, he earned his nickname snakeshivu.

Avocation
By profession, Shivu is a dry cleaner, but beginning in 1990 he began to be frequently called upon to retrieve snakes that had encroached on people's properties, a job for which he receives no pay. Called multiple times each day, Shivu uses a a sticks or tongs without strings to net the snakes, which he then releases into the forest. Though his avocation to safely remove these snakes has cost him considerable expense, Shivu continues from the desire to see these snakes released rather than killed.

Until 2011, he estimated that he may have caught and released around 15,000 snakes since he began in 1987; as of 2011, the official record, which he began in 2009, was 1200 snakes. Though Shivu has only been bitten three times in his rescue work, he has developed an allergy to antivenom, which requires that he exercise great care in handling snakes.