Kamal Devkota and his team in Nepal recently exhibited a snake awareness program at a local festival in Nepal. The 5th edition of the Nawalpur Mahotsav Festival was held at Kawasoti-3, Nawalpur in Nepal. This festival was organized by the Nawalpur Chamber of Commerce and Industry from 31 January – 10 February 2019. There were more than 200 stalls at the festival including other activities such as seminars on agriculture, communication, information and technology, education, health and tourism. It was estimated that nearly 150,000 visitors visited the festivals.
A snake conservation awareness program at this type of exhibition festival was conducted for the first time in Nepal. This year the Nepal Toxinology Association (NTA) and Kaligandaki Hospital, Kawasoti hired a stall (Stall No. 29) to exhibit at the festival. They showed museum specimens of venomous and non-venomous snakes to the visitors, giving both, the theoretical and practical knowledge on the identification process of venomous and non-venomous snakes. Kamal and his team answered various queries from the visitors and shared knowledge on different aspect of snakes and snakebites, snake species in Nepal, first aid treatments and clinical signs and symptoms of snakebites, preventive measures from snakebite, importance and conservation of snakes, misconceptions of snakes and snakebites in Nepal and epidemiology of snakebite in Nepal. After the awareness session, they distributed brochures, posters, pamphlets and health bulletins to the visitors. The exhibition was a great success!
