Through the Save The Snakes Support Grant Program, Save The Snakes supported Jane C. Oliveira in 2019 to increase awareness about snake conservation in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Jane has been providing snake talks for local groups in Rio de Janeiro’s Serra das Torred Natural Monument region since 2018. She has prepared guides on venomous snakes in the locality and shown the locals how to identify them. She hopes to expand her efforts to increase capacity building within other areas and work with residents close to other Conservation Units.
Project Title:
The countryman as a multiplier of ideas for snake conservation
Project Summary:
The idea of an untouched nature cannot be applied to all contexts, considering that many areas have traditional populations living around them, so that the relationship between community and the continuity of biodiversity must be addressed together. Many protected areas in Brazil follow this pattern, where large numbers of people live close to fauna and flora and in many cases this relationship is unfriendly.
Aims and Objectives:
In this project, Jane and her team aim to work with residents living close to environmental protection areas so that they can improve their relationships with one of the most feared groups in the country: the snakes. Snakes are usually killed due to lack of knowledge of them. For a layman, snakes are dangerous regardless of whether they are venomous or not. In this project Jane will teach campers how to recognize a venomous snake, how to remove it if necessary, and how to share this knowledge with other villagers. This project is in its early stages and is currently being carried out in only one location (near the Serra das Torres Natural Monument) in the state of Espírito Santo, southeastern Brazil. However, the goal is to be able to take this project to other areas of preserved forest in other municipalities and states.
Goal:
The goal of the project is to increase the number of residents that will agree to approach and handle a snake and to learn how to remove it if necessary. This has been the most efficient metric for the project so far. In many cases residents do not agree on first contact to approach a living snake to learn how to handle it. But once they are convinced that it is safe and they learn how to deal with these animals, they completely change their behavior and then stop killing them.
Support Snake Conservation
Jane’s project is a recipient of the 2019 Save The Snakes Support Grant Program. Save The Snakes Support Grants are made possible because of the generosity of compassionate people and organizations who are inspired and dedicated to protect threatened snake populations and mitigate human-snake conflict around the world. Please donate today to help us continue to fund projects like Janes’s snake conservation project in Brazil. Thank you for your support.