Passion is something that can make humans conquer the whole world yet destroy it too. Today I am known to people as ‘Sarpmitra Akash Jadhav’, maybe it was my childhood passion or dream or the poverty, which is a great problem for our country, that made me do what I do.  Poverty is a thing that can make a person deal with danger and I guess that is how my story started.

I remember leaving school at an early stage when I was studying in 7^th class because my family was facing a lot of financial trouble. I had to do something as I was not ready to accept the harsh reality of what life showed me at such a tender age. One of my relative Sunil Bhambal, he used work for an animal rescue organization at Satara, I contacted him and went there. Like every other Indian family, my family was not supportive of my decision of getting trained for snake rescue. Snakes are not good friends amongst Indian myths even though lord Shiva wears one as an ornament. So with all the things aside I went to Satara without informing them in 2007. For a year, I started learning about rescuing snakes and how to keep them safe. Within a year I had got to know about many species of snakes and the rescuing process.

After a year in 2008, I returned to my native Nagardev Village which is located in Ahmednagar. The place is very rustic, mostly with thatched houses, water wells, and vast farmlands surrounding with forests nearby. I thought of starting my snake rescue team at my village because people here believed in superstitions and performed tantric rituals even after snake bites or being attacked by foxes. I initially started with snake rescuing and within a few days of my rescuing work, I started getting 5 to 6 calls a day. Rescuing a wild animal might look like an easy task on the internet but it takes hard work and smart work of few minutes to a lot of hours. This is when I thought of expanding my team as I had to remain alert 24*7 and it was being too much hectic for me alone.

Amongst my team members Atul Pakhare, Nawaz Shaikh, Rishikesh Jadhav, Shiraj Sayyed, Siddhant Waghchaure, Rishikesh Paredeshi, Aniket Pakhare were people who were trained in snake rescuing and they joined our team.

As I said there are many superstitions about snakes like not to kill them, snakes capture and remember a face, also the weirdest being snakes are immortal. People were unaware of the first aid on snake bites. Tantric rituals would end up with a mourning family always. I was concerned about this so I remember taking a loan to buy projectors so that I and my team can run campaigns on how to provide first aid to a person who is bit by the snake, how to reach a safe distance from an attacking animal, and reach us for help and not to believe superstitions and other guidelines to follow at schools and colleges because it’s the youth who can change the world. But we could reach only Ahmednagar and not a wide range of people.

I then started my Facebook page and a YouTube channel named “Sarpamitra Akash Jadhav” and started uploading videos of rescuing snakes.  I also uploaded the videos of first aids and basic treatment to be done before reaching a doctor. People started following and accepting our work. Not only snakes our teams have rescued various birds and foxes also. To date, we have rescued more than 3000 species of wild animals. And I am very proud of my team.

These days we have started accepting women rescuers in our teams as a part of the women empowerment program. Megha Bhalerav, Neeta Gajare, Rajeshri Alhat, Sheetal kashar are a few female members of our team and we are extremely proud of them. As of today, we have 4.24 million followers on our Youtube page. Currently, we are serving from our office at Ahmednagar. We are looking forward to helping you anytime you need us and can contact us round the clock. Happily serving my people and looking forward to helping more. Thank you!