Legacy
Snake Shyam
How it All Started
Born in the year 1967, Shyam was very keen and passionate about animals ever since he was a little kid, he was always surrounded by stray dogs, birds and various other pet animals which he used to spend time with during his leisure. Both father and mother being government teachers named M R Subbarao and Nagalakshmi were having something else in mind when Shyam was growing up, as normal parents they too had high ambition for their son that he’d grow upto be in a highly employed position as an educated civilian but during the schooling of Shyam was the time where some of the events took a turn to be what he is today known to the society as Snake Shyam.
As he was walking past his neighbour’s house was the moment he heard a loud scream of fear, it was a little girl who was frightened looking at a snake slither into their property, Shyam was walking towards his house finishing his school just like any other day, as soon as he rushed to the spot was when he found a 3 feet long spectacled cobra, taking inspiration from a movie that he’d watched very recently, gently placed a stick on its head and grabbed it only to release it into a nearby mango groove, later on as time passed by the news of Shyam rescuing a snake spread across the streets and other neighbourhood as there was nobody who could rescue the snake, that was the period of time where most of the snakes were killed by people due to lack of awareness and fear.
The Extraordinary Journey from Factory Worker to Snake Rescuer Extraordinaire
Shyam was just 13 years old when he rescued his first snake and today holds a phenomenal record for the most number of snakes rescued by any man on the planet, so far has documented more than 60,000 snake rescues but most of them aren’t even listed as he was lacking guidance, Shyam was born in a lower middle class family and not being able to study, joined factories and industries as a daily wage worker and made a decent living. As time passed he also took the risk of applying a loan to buy an auto rickshaw and started his new life as a rickshwaw driver dropping passengers and school children to their respective locations. Shyam Was also making time to rescue snakes whenever he could, and as time passed he was considered as local hero who rescues snakes, he was all over the newspapers, media, publications, magazines, radio channels and he was a sensation among the people of Mysore. As he was there only man who had the courage to rescue snakes and educate people about why snakes should be conserved and saved.
The Global Recognition of Mysore's Snake Rescuer and Community Leader
People from all over the world stared recognising him for his work where he used to spend day and night rescuing snakes and other wild / domestic animals. He was featured on the national geographic channel as a superhero who rescues people and snakes in Mysore city, it was definitely one of the first trips for nat geo in India and the journey of that team with Snakes Shyam spending 24 hours circling around the city rescuing snakes. After being featured on nat geo, Snakes Shyam gained much more boost and his work gained more and more attention. Following that more international channels started interviewing him and following him around the city to show the work he was doing and the mission he was on. For the decades of service that he’s provided to the city, he was also an elected representative of a specific area as a corporator to ensure the discipline, cleanliness and developments in that area.
How it All Started
Born in the year 1967, Shyam was very keen and passionate about animals ever since he was a little kid, he was always surrounded by stray dogs, birds and various other pet animals which he used to spend time with during his leisure. Both father and mother being government teachers named M R Subbarao and Nagalakshmi were having something else in mind when Shyam was growing up, as normal parents they too had high ambition for their son that he’d grow upto be in a highly employed position as an educated civilian but during the schooling of Shyam was the time where some of the events took a turn to be what he is today known to the society as Snake Shyam.
As he was walking past his neighbour’s house was the moment he heard a loud scream of fear, it was a little girl who was frightened looking at a snake slither into their property, Shyam was walking towards his house finishing his school just like any other day, as soon as he rushed to the spot was when he found a 3 feet long spectacled cobra, taking inspiration from a movie that he’d watched very recently, gently placed a stick on its head and grabbed it only to release it into a nearby mango groove, later on as time passed by the news of Shyam rescuing a snake spread across the streets and other neighbourhood as there was nobody who could rescue the snake, that was the period of time where most of the snakes were killed by people due to lack of awareness and fear.
The Extraordinary Journey from Factory Worker to Snake Rescuer Extraordinaire
Shyam was just 13 years old when he rescued his first snake and today holds a phenomenal record for the most number of snakes rescued by any man on the planet, so far has documented more than 60,000 snake rescues but most of them aren’t even listed as he was lacking guidance, Shyam was born in a lower middle class family and not being able to study, joined factories and industries as a daily wage worker and made a decent living. As time passed he also took the risk of applying a loan to buy an auto rickshaw and started his new life as a rickshwaw driver dropping passengers and school children to their respective locations. Shyam Was also making time to rescue snakes whenever he could, and as time passed he was considered as local hero who rescues snakes, he was all over the newspapers, media, publications, magazines, radio channels and he was a sensation among the people of Mysore. As he was there only man who had the courage to rescue snakes and educate people about why snakes should be conserved and saved.
The Global Recognition of Mysore's Snake Rescuer and Community Leader
People from all over the world stared recognising him for his work where he used to spend day and night rescuing snakes and other wild / domestic animals. He was featured on the national geographic channel as a superhero who rescues people and snakes in Mysore city, it was definitely one of the first trips for nat geo in India and the journey of that team with Snakes Shyam spending 24 hours circling around the city rescuing snakes.
After being featured on nat geo, Snakes Shyam gained much more boost and his work gained more and more attention. Following that more international channels started interviewing him and following him around the city to show the work he was doing and the mission he was on. For the decades of service that he’s provided to the city, he was also an elected representative of a specific area as a corporator to ensure the discipline, cleanliness and developments in that area.
How it all started
Born in the year 1967, Shyam was very keen and passionate about animals ever since he was a little kid, he was always surrounded by stray dogs, birds and various other pet animals which he used to spend time with during his leisure. Both father and mother being government teachers named M R Subbarao and Nagalakshmi were having something else in mind when Shyam was growing up, as normal parents they too had high ambition for their son that he’d grow upto be in a highly employed position as an educated civilian but during the schooling of Shyam was the time where some of the events took a turn to be what he is today known to the society as Snakes Shyam. As he was walking past his neighbour’s house was the moment he heard a loud scream of fear, it was a little girl who was frightened looking at a snake slither into their property, Shyam was walking towards his house finishing his school just like any other day, as soon as he rushed to the spot was when he found a 3 feet long spectacled cobra, taking inspiration from a movie that he’d watched very recently, gently placed a stick on its head and grabbed it only to release it into a nearby mango groove, later on as time passed by the news of Shyam rescuing a snake spread across the streets and other neighbourhood as there was nobody who could rescue the snake, that was the period of time where most of the snakes were killed by people due to lack of awareness and fear.
Shyam was just 13 years old when he rescued his first snake and today holds a phenomenal record for the most number of snakes rescued by any man on the planet, so far has documented more than 60,000 snake rescues but most of them aren’t even listed as he was lacking guidance, Shyam was born in a lower middle class family and not being able to study, joined factories and industries as a daily wage worker and made a decent living. As time passed he also took the risk of applying a loan to buy an auto rickshaw and started his new life as a rickshwaw driver dropping passengers and school children to their respective locations. Shyam Was also making time to rescue snakes whenever he could, and as time passed he was considered as local hero who rescues snakes, he was all over the newspapers, media, publications, magazines, radio channels and he was a sensation among the people of Mysore. As he was there only man who had the courage to rescue snakes and educate people about why snakes should be conserved and saved.
People from all over the world stared recognising him for his work where he used to spend day and night rescuing snakes and other wild / domestic animals. He was featured on the national geographic channel as a superhero who rescues people and snakes in Mysore city, it was definitely one of the first trips for nat geo in India and the journey of that team with Snakes Shyam spending 24 hours circling around the city rescuing snakes. After being featured on nat geo, Snakes Shyam gained much more boost and his work gained more and more attention. Following that more international channels started interviewing him and following him around the city to show the work he was doing and the mission he was on. For the decades of service that he’s provided to the city, he was also an elected representative of a specific area as a corporator to ensure the discipline, cleanliness and developments in that area.
Myself Surya Keerthi
Son of Mysuru city’s well-known snake rescuer and wildlife conservationist Snake Shyam is following my father’s footsteps, rescued more than 4,000 snakes in a span of two years and as people say us the father-son duo, have rescued about 400 snakes during the lockdown period.
I invite you to join me on this incredible journey of discovery and advocacy. Together, we can protect the beauty and diversity of our natural world for future generations.
awards and honours
He has been awarded with the highest honour of the state called Rajyotsava award followed by Bharat Jyothi award, mother teresa peace prize award, Suvarna news man of the year award, pride of Mysuru ward and much more where his house is filled with a gallery of awards where many schools, institutions, industries and other organisations have been thankful and has conveyed their gratitude as a token of love. Now at the age of 56 he has come up with a goshala which acts as a shelter for cows and oxen which are sent to slaughter houses, along with that having various other animals in his shelter under his care and even today attends to snake rescue calls which successfully completes 45 years of his rescue and conservation journey until forever till his last breath.
awards and honours
He has been awarded with the highest honour of the state called Rajyotsava award followed by Bharat Jyothi award, mother teresa peace prize award, Suvarna news man of the year award, pride of Mysuru ward and much more where his house is filled with a gallery of awards where many schools, institutions, industries and other organisations have been thankful and has conveyed their gratitude as a token of love.
Now at the age of 56 he has come up with a goshala which acts as a shelter for cows and oxen which are sent to slaughter houses, along with that having various other animals in his shelter under his care and even today attends to snake rescue calls which successfully completes 45 years of his rescue and conservation journey until forever till his last breath.
Many species of wildlife are facing extinction. Let’s do our part by donating and protect their homes and their lives.