Make friends with snakes

Having been bitten by snakes dozens of times, he once suffered droopy eyelids, a distorted voice, and difficulty breathing, but as Pham Minh Hieu humorously commented, he spent his youth "living" with snakes and considered them friends.

In the forest more than at home

Among the countless snake hunting videos on social networks, Pham Minh Hieu’s YouTube channel “Green Forest Messenger” stands out with the opposite goal: to discover, preserve and record snakes in the wild. The channel currently has nearly 290,000 followers with 281 videos posted.

Pham Minh Hieu instructs on how to properly give first aid for snake bites. Photo: NVCC

The young man born in 1992, originally from Thai Binh , grew up in Dak Lak, introduced the channel simply: “My channel is not a channel for hunting wild animals. I built Green Forest Messenger to share my journey to high mountains, deep forests, and record wild animals, especially the beautiful snakes of Vietnam…”. According to Hieu, snakes are often associated with scary images, as “villains” in nature. But for him, snakes play an important role in ecological balance. “Understanding and protecting snakes is to maintain the balance of nature,” he said.

Hieu started raising snakes at the age of 16, initially out of curiosity. Later, his passion grew into a serious direction when he went to the forest to learn about the life of snakes to serve the purpose of raising and extracting venom to produce antivenom serum. To successfully raise snakes, he had to understand their habits, habitat, eating, sleeping, hunting... From then on, his trips to the forest continued, from all the famous forests of Vietnam to Laos, Thailand, Cambodia - mostly self-sufficient, sometimes having to hire a guide in difficult terrain such as Hoang Lien Son or Fansipan. "I probably spend half of my time in the forest," Hieu smiled and confided.

Filming snakes in the wild is a painstaking process. “The only way to film the life of snakes in the wild is to be patient. Sometimes you have to follow a snake for several days, observing its entire cycle of movement - hunting - digestion - rest to capture a valuable moment,” Hieu said. He also shared that his next dream destination is Borneo (Indonesia) - the reptile paradise of Southeast Asia, or the limestone mountains of the Truong Son range in Quang Binh province - home to very rare snake species.

From techie to snake doctor

Pham Minh Hieu graduated with a degree in Information Technology (Ho Chi Minh City University of Technical Education) and worked in the signal transmission department of VTV Cab. Changing direction after an invitation from an eco-tourism company in Phan Thiet, Hieu stayed there for 2 years, in charge of taking care of snakes before moving to Dong Nai to ask for permission from local authorities and forest rangers to build a snake farm.

I think I have a mission. This job is very risky. Balancing the pros and cons, gains and losses is really difficult. Only passion keeps me doing this job.

Pham Minh Hieu, owner of YouTube channel Green Forest Messenger

The farm covers an area of ​​3,000 ^{square meters} , currently caring for about 500 individuals - mainly cobras, along with tiger cats, garter snakes... with the sole purpose of collecting venom to supply to units producing antivenom serum. "When old or sick snakes die, I destroy them instead of selling them or turning them into food. Because for me, they have already completed their mission," Hieu shared. On average, he collects venom once a month, following strict procedures.

Hieu's journey from discovery to snake breeding encountered many dangers. He was bitten by snakes dozens of times in the wild, but the most memorable time happened right at the snake farm when he was attacked by a cobra weighing more than 3kg, starting to show signs of drooping eyelids, distorted voice, difficulty breathing, fortunately he was given timely emergency care at Cho Ray Hospital. And something quite special, also from an emergency due to a snake bite, he met the woman of his life, a female doctor of the Department of Tropical Diseases and the Anti-Poison Unit (Cho Ray Hospital). "This is the last time I've been bitten and I have to treat it. Next time I'm bitten, I'll say goodbye and win," Hieu smiled, recounting his wife's words after taking care of him once.

With a deep understanding of snake behavior, Hieu regularly participates in conservation activities: rescuing snakes from people's homes, supporting the release of snakes into the wild. In 2020, he supported the release of a 21kg king cobra - evidence from a wildlife trafficking case - into the forest. The video of the snake release later attracted more than 7.8 million views on YouTube. In addition, Hieu also supports hospitals in identifying snakes - a key factor in helping doctors choose the right serum. In many cases, there are only bite marks, unclear descriptions or a few pieces of scales... Hieu considers these as "puzzle solving" times to find the snake species in the shortest time, helping to use the right serum, increasing treatment effectiveness.

VAN TUAN

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/lam-ban-voi-ran-post799894.html