Saving Lives and Biodiversity In Nepal

As Nepal is rich in biodiversity and natural resources;

Save The Lives envisions biodiversity conservation and sustainable development to save the lives.

Did You Know ??

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Snake species are found in Nepal

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People are bitten by Snake, Yearly

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Yearly Deaths By Snake Bite

Our Mission

Our mission is biodiversity conservation and sustainable development through research, advocacy and education to save the lives.

Our various integrated educational and outreach programs help in the following areas.

Research

Biodiversity, Habitat, Ecology, Genetics, Venom, Snake and Snakebite.

Conservation

Community based wildlife and biodiversity conservation.

Conflict Mitigations

Human-Wildlife Conflict Mitigations

Community Empowerment

Capacity building and Community Empowerment

Habitat Environment

Habitat preservation and environment pollution reduction.

OUR PROGRAMS

King Cobra Research

The King Cobra, Ophiophagus hannah (Cantor, 1836) is the longest venomous snake in the world. It is categorized as a Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List and also listed by the CITES Appendix II. They use a variety of habitats and sometimes small waterways in the vicinity of human habitation including agricultural field and rural villages. The major threats to King Cobras in Nepal are thought to be habitat destruction and persecution by humans. The main purpose of Save The King project is to highlight the current status of the King Cobra and conservation needs in Nepal. In Nepal, every year hundreds of people die from snakebite. Unfortunately, most people frequently kill snakes when encountered. Our pilot data reflect an increasing trend in King Cobra deaths. We believe that deaths will decrease in the future, as people become more familiar with King Cobra behavior through this Save The King project. We will conduct research programs on this charismatic species to understand its distribution, habitat and natural history, as well as continued conservation education, community outreach and capacity building programs to protect the habitat and Save The King.

Education / Awareness

Human-Snake Conflict Mitigation programs

We conduct Snake Conservation and Human-Snake Conflict Mitigation programs in various communities and schools/colleges focusing on diversity, distribution and habitats of snakes, identification of venomous and non venomous snakes, snake conservation, procedures for avoiding snakebites, appropriate first aid methods, misconception on snakes and snakebites etc.

Theatre in Education: Collaborations between Science and Arts

We collaborate with the Nepali Theatre with the aims to conduct the awareness program regarding snakes, human-snake conflict mitigations and snake conservation in Nepal. We also collaborate with the hospitals that provide us museum specimens of snakes for educational purposes. We display museum specimens and different educational materials in our stall. Whenever we got a rescue call and rescue the snake, we show some of the rescued snakes to the audiences/visitors before releasing them into the natural habitats. During the drama show for different schools, we also conduct informative classes inside the hall to educate students and teachers. We distribute our educational materials to the audiences/visitors. When audiences also show interest to learn the snake handling methods, we show them non-venomous snake handling methods as well. This is probably for the first of its kind in Nepal that the audiences not only get good time to enjoy the drama but also get opportunities to see live snakes and learn to handle them (non-venomous snakes only).

Wildlife/Biodiversity Conservation

Snakes can be found in a variety of habitats and play very important role in ecosystem and environment just like other wildlife fauna. Snakes play a key role in the food chain acting as predators and as prey too. Without snakes, the numbers of prey species would increase uncontrollably and the predators that eat snakes would struggle for food. The snakes have become threatened due to many reasons and habitat loss/destruction is one of them. Maintaining a biodiversity is important to all the creatures on the earth and snakes are also a part of this biodiversity which play a significant role that helps to balance the natural ecosystem.

The Nepal Snake Festival (NSFest)

The Nepal Snake Festival (NSFest) was initiated in 2023 with the aims and objectives to conduct the various awareness programs regarding biodiversity conservation primarily focusing on species of snakes, human-snake conflicts mitigation, snake conservation and snakebite management in Nepal. The NSFest team is a group of young, enthusiastic and dedicated snake conservationists and snakebite expert's team of Nepal. The NSFest was planned after having long experiences in this field to keep working together consistently. We have organized the first edition (Chapter 1) of Nepal Snake Festival (NSFest) in Kawasoti, Nawalpur district from 20th - 21st August 2023 with the slogan "Promoting Co-existence between Humans and Snakes".

Rescue and Relocation of Snakes

Rescue and Relocation of Snakes
We rescue snakes only if needed, i.e., mostly when it's inside the house or in the premises of the house and relocate to its nearby natural habitats in the presence of forest officials. Our team members have rescued hundreds of snakes including venomous and non-venomous from different districts of Nepal. Cobras, King Cobras, Kraits, Russell's Vipers and Pit Vipers among venomous snakes whereas Pythons, Trinket Snakes, Rat Snakes, Water Snakes and many others among non-venomous snakes. During these rescue and relocation work, we not only distribute educational materials like brochures and posters to the locals but also conduct a "Spot Education" by telling them about rescued snake's basic information, their behavior and also handling methods (in case of non-venomous snakes only).

Projects and Events

We are a part of the diversity, and it is our duty to protect the biological diversity.