Who knew that Tota Mia’s snake farm, which he had spent most of his life building with much hard work, thinking he would earn enough money to support his family by selling snake poisons and collecting visitors’ tips, would vanish upon his death?
He was really a snake lover and used to wrap poisonous snakes around his neck, stunning people at home and abroad.
His farm, located at Chourangi Baza in Thakurgaon’s Haripur upazila, had brought him celebrity status not only in the country but also across the border, as global media eagerly ran reports about his farm.
There is a story that some people once came to visit his farm and offered to take him to USA, but he had not agreed for the sake of his love toward his homeland.
He had wanted to do something great in his motherland.
A swift demise
In 2007, snake lover Tota Mia died in his own home from the bite of a cobra which had been wrapped around his neck.
At the time of his death, around 5,000 cobras were incubated at his farm. However, within a week of his death, over 100 snakes died from starvation since his family, including his wife Nur Jahan, who was afraid of the snakes, did not know how to nurture the cobras.
When the shocking news of the death of so many snakes went viral, it created a sensation among snake experts and environmentalists across the country.
The Ministry of Forest and Environment decided to keep some of the snakes at the zoo and cull the rest.
It also decided to keep some snakes at the farm.
Welcoming the move, experts urged the government to keep the snakes in a congenial environment.
Environmentalists, however, opposed the move saying that wild life habitats in the country would be destroyed if such a farm was approved. They had called on the government to not allow any such wildlife farms to exist.
A forgotten farm
A week after Tota Mia’s death, his eldest son drowned in a pond, leaving behind his mother, brother and sister.
This correspondent recently went to visit Tota Mia’s farm and family, but found only a tin-shed house, a kitchen and an empty-snake farm.
His wife, Nur Jahan, had taken their remaining two children and left home three months ago.
Julekha Begum, a neigbour, told the Dhaka Tribune that Nur Jahan had been working hard to make ends meet ever since Tota Mia died seven years ago. She had even begged for alms for a while.
Now only the homestead bears witness to Tota Mia’s legacy.
