Breeder Raises Venomous Snakes for Market
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CHINA DAILY Thursday, April 14, 2016 CHINA 7 GROUND LEVEL: PEOPLE Breeder raises venomous snakes for market Farmer pulled family out of poverty Still, it is impossible to avoid the inevitable. In 2011, as Luo’s snake business started to by selling serpents to restaurants show promising results, he was bitten. By YANG JUN and “I was once the owner of a “It felt worse than being ZENG JUN in Liping, Guizhou restaurant and guitar factory stung by a bee and that is the in Guangdong province, but first time I faced a life-or- A farmer who swapped rais- the financial crisis in 2008 death situation,” Luo said. ing crops for breeding venom- took nearly everything from Even now, he has kept the ous cobras and other less- me,” Luo said. incident from his parents and deadly snakes, lifting his Seeking another business, children. Only his wife is family out of poverty in just a he learned that snakes are aware of what happened and few years, is eager to share his quite popular as food in “she’s been nagging at me ever skills with other villagers in Guangdong province and the since”,Luo said. Southwest China’s Guizhou Guangxi Zhuang autonomous “She’s fine with me breeding province. region. Hunting wild snakes is snakes, since it’s profitable, In a peaceful courtyard in strictly prohibited in China, so but I have to get rid of the Liping county’s Niujiaowan the demand for farmed snakes deadly ones, such as the village, a neat row of bunga- is quite large. cobras.” lows is home to thousands of To master the skills of snake It costs about 80 yuan ($12) snakes, including the vibrant- handling and breeding, Luo to raise a snake that can be ly patterned kingsnakes that spent nearly a year as an sold for more than 130 yuan in use constriction to subdue and apprentice at various breeding the current market, Luo said. kill their prey. bases across the country. In “Snakes are asleep most of “Tamingsnakes is way hard- 2009, he returned to his home- time, so it takes less labor com- er than raising regular animal town and opened his own pared with traditional animal species,” said 40-year-old Luo breeding base. husbandry, such as pig breed- Luo Han grabs a kingsnake bred in his snake farm at Niujiaowan village, Liping county in Guizhou province. PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY Han, who owns the breeding “The biggest concern was a ing,” he said. houses. worry about snake bites and Luo’s company breeds more Luo wears special gloves the emergency care needed than 9,000 snakes a year, and uses other equipment to should someone be bitten by a which brings in revenue of pull a snake out of its pit. He snake while taming it,” Luo about 1 million yuan. He is tightly presses on the snake’s said. looking to share his know- head to ensure it won’t be able In order to assuage any wo- ledge and snake-farming skills to attack anyone. rries his fellow villagers might with other villagers. As experienced as Luo is have, Luo built the breeding “I’d like to help more poor today, he didn’t start his career houses in an isolated area and people, like I used to be, to join as a snake farmer. added three fences to ensure the breeding business,” he Born and raised in the prov- safety. said. ince’s mountainous area, Luo’s “I always keep a first aid kit, family was poor during his as well as antivenoms, at my Zhao Kai contributed to this childhood, and he was forced office just in case,” Luo said, story. to drop out of school as a teen- adding that mastering those ager to find work in the coastal medical skills is fundamental Contact the writers at yang- regions. for every snake handler. [email protected] Cobras and their eggs at one of Luo’s snake-breeding houses. Luo checks the condition of his snake eggs. Around China CHONGQING tried in vain for more than two in the restaurant and enter- police mediation. Wan met mobile phone sent out a text the knife, which destroyed any Fisherman washed years to wipe out his bad credit tainment business in Spain, Tong’s wife online. The married reading “I miss you” for no fingerprint evidence. Fangshan away by flood record, which he claims result- decided to return to the main- couple have a 2-year-old child. apparent reason. He said he people’s court said Li had com- ed from a bank error. Zhao Kai, land and settled down in Liu’s CHINA YOUTH NEWS was harassed and disturbed by mitted the crime of helping oth- A resident of Wuxi county is 27, found that he had a poor village. A wedding ceremony the large volume of spam me- ers destroy evidence. still missing after being credit score in 2013 due to was organized last year. SHAANXI ssages. Local experts said BEIJING TIMES washed away by a flood on three loans he allegedly took CHINA YOUTH NEWS Car with fake Yuan’s mobile phone number April 3. The man was fishing out in 1996 and never paid might have been cloned. Man set 12 cars in a river when he was hit by a back. “I was only seven then license plate seized HUASHANG DAILY flash flood caused by heavy Naked man lay in alight, damaged 25 and could not borrow money,” road to con a driver rain the day before. Despite Zhao said. However, despite Abducted son with a year reprieve for A 53-year-old man in Chaoy- intensive search efforts, he has repeated attempts, he still can- On Monday a man in Wenling slaughtering and cooking ang district set 12 cars on fire not yet been found. not obtain a credit card. stripped off all his clothes and finds parents three protected sparrow- and damaged 25 more within CHONGQING EVENING NEWS HUASHANG DAILY lay in front of an oncoming car A man in Ziyang county who hawks in Dazhu county. He a month. Police received in an apparent attempt to con was abducted at the age of 3 has was also fined 1,000 yuan by numerous reports about early Expressway suicide ZHEJIANG a female driver out of compen- been reunited with his parents the county people’s court. morning arson attacks in attempt averted Billionaire falls for sation. Onlookers, who took after 19 years. Accompanied by Huang was detained and Shibalidian village, where the several pictures and videos of his adoptive father, 22-year-old brought for trial after he sent man, surnamed Wang, lived. A woman was talked down village woman the event, said the man A car with fake license plates Xiao Wei returned home on photos of the dead birds to his He denied burning the cars, from an apparent suicide refused to get up, insisting he copied from another vehicle Monday. He was abducted from QQ application in December. but was detained due to attempt after police reminded had been knocked down. He has been seized by police after Henan province in March 1997 The photos raised concerns incriminating evidence. her that her child was waiting was later removed from the it was spotted by the original and sold to his adoptive father from the local public procura- Investigations are ongoing. for her at school. At about scene by police. car’s owner. The man, sur- for 13,000 yuan, but his mother, tors about the slaughter of BEIJING MORNING NEWS 10:45 am on April 4, police TAIZHOU EVENING NEWS named Zhang, saw the car surnamed Xiang, never stopped wild birds that are under the were called to attend to the while out walking with his searching for him. A DNA test State’s protection. Thieves tunneled woman, who was threatening wife in a housing estate in conducted in March proved HUAXI NEWS to throw herself off a bridge Compensation Shangluo. The car with the into warehouse paid for affair that Xiao Wei was Xiang’s son. above an expressway. She was fake license plate was the same HUASHANG DAILY BEIJING Three men who stole 240 talked down after a three-hour A billionaire has given up all A migrant worker, surnamed make, model and color as Wife washed iPhones have been jailed for standoff, when police told her his property overseas to marry Tong, has received 2,000 yuan Zhang’s car. Bank security staff up to 12 years. The men, sur- that school had finished and a village woman and become a in compensation from a man HUASHANG DAILY murder weapon named Chang, 30, Jiang, 38 her child was waiting for her. farmer in Yunhe county. Yao who had an affair with his stole cash A woman, surnamed Li, has and Lei, 36, stole the mobile CHONGQING EVENING NEWS Nanshan, a 57-year-old over- 19-year-old wife. Tong discov- Man harassed by A member of a bank’s security been sentenced to four months phones by tunneling into a seas Chinese from Spain, met ered the affair after he mobile phone staff in Weinan used money house arrest with a six-month warehouse on the night of Dec SHANGHAI his wife Liu Lijuan after he returned home to Jiaxing fo- from a wallet that had been reprieve for helping her hus- 13, 2014. The stolen phones Homes used to missed the last bus out of the llowing the Qingming festival A man in Xi’an sought police handed in to buy a mobile band, surnamed Zhang, wash a were valued at more than 2.4 store ashes village in July 2013, while earlier this month.