Fear of snakes or opioid phobia is the second most common phobia in the world. In some cases, this fear is unfounded – some snakes are capable of delivering such strong venom that they can kill an adult in 45 minutes. Whether it’s an evolutionary defensive measure or some of us have brought out an animal that was without legs, snakes can probably never be man’s best friend. Challenging this common fear, a man from India believed that snakes would actually attack stupid creatures only when they were severely provoked – and he was going to prove it is perhaps the most insane way.
Neelim Kumar Khair was a 26-year-old receptionist in 1986 at a five-star hotel in Pune, India. The avid reptile lover, Khair had earlier worked at a holiday home near Bombay where he was confronted by various snakes who obviously wanted to enjoy a holiday. As a manager, he had the responsibility to deal with them. “Reptiles were frequent visitors to my place in Matheran. I hate killing such beautiful animals – most of them were innocent. So I started catching and releasing them in the Sahyadri hills. Once I caught a snake and took it to the Huffkin Institute in Bombay.” I was told that it was toxic and very risky to carry. This incident boosted my courage and so I became obsessed with snakes.” Khair is talking to India Today.
According to Khair, he caught a somewhat impressive 25,000 snakes and boasted only 6,000 bites, although some may argue that the bite of five thousand snakes in one lifetime is slightly more than the acceptable level. Despite frequent bites, Khayer was proud to live across the country with reptiles and was always considered a snake friend, not an enemy. So, when Khair got a brave breeze from Peter Snyimaris, known as South African, who was recently trapped for 50 hours with 24 snakes (18 of which were venomous), Khair decided to claim the record for himself and his country, which he believed Did the land of snakes.
