Guardians of deadly vipers on China's Snake Island

Warmhearted guardians take cold-blooded snakes under wing

The island and its adjacent waters are off-limits for tourists to prevent any harm to the snakes. However, a group of snake guardians have frequented the island in carrying out conservation and research work. Among those to blaze a trail was Sun Lixin.

Sun started working on the island soon after the nature reserve was established. One of the biggest challenges came in 1989 when Snake Island suffered three months of drought and the thirsty snakes were in critical condition.

Sun and his colleagues transported more than 800 basins filled with water to the island via patrol ships. When they set the basins down, he was astonished to see the island was infested with countless snakes in search of water. The reserve staff later dug a well and built reservoirs to ease the water shortage.

There is a Chinese saying:"Once bitten by a snake, the mere sight of a rope will scare you for the rest of your life." Sun has defied this by continuing to work with the snakes after being bitten more than 10 times. He has even become immune to snake venom.

But Sun and his colleagues have a healthy respect for the power of the vipers' venom."At first it just felt like being pricked with a needle, I didn't feel like much at all. Two hours later when I arrived at the hospital, my arm had swollen right up, finally spreading down to my waist," said Wang."I've never felt anything so painful, the type of pain where you just want to cut your arm off."

Yet despite their deadly power, the snakes have particularly fragile mouths, which are often hurt as they feed on the sharp beaks of migratory birds. The most common disease on the island is thus stomatitis. Snakes with oral cavity inflammation cannot open their mouths and often perish.

In such cases, the snake guardians double as veterinarians. They have to force the jaws of the poisonous snakes apart and treat their wounds with gentian violet.

"It's inconvenient to wear gloves for this kind of work as the snakes' mouths are too small," Sun said. When he first set foot on the island, he was armed to the teeth with protective clothing, leg guards and a long stick. Now he dares to walk in the quivering grass in his slippers.