M A I N   N E W S

Feeding on lizards, mongooses for kick
From Varinder Singh
Tribune News Service

JALANDHAR, July 21 — They cannot afford to buy costly booze or opium or for that matter any other concoction. They do not even like these. Thanks to cheaper alternatives which are there for them in the form of monitor lizards and mongooses, they are able to experience the high offered by any good quality liquor.

“Tapprivasis,” a nomad tribe, members of which can be seen in the countryside of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan, are known for killing and eating these reptiles, the count of which is rapidly declining in these states.

These species, particularly the mongoose, is immune to snake venom and attacks snakes. However, these reptiles, earlier found in abundance in forests and rural areas, are on the verge of extinction due to the depletion of forest cover and an increasing tendency among “tapprivasis” to kill them for food and to experience the “high”.

Members of the nomad tribe from Rajasthan can be seen roaming about in the kandi area of Hoshiarpur and in Jalandhar and Kapurthala districts. They openly hunt these reptiles and the Wildlife Department doesn’t seem to be doing anything about it. Trained hunter dogs are used to kill these creatures, usually after a hot chase, sometimes even in water.

Even though little is known about the number of species of mongoose, there are about 25 species of monitor lizard in the world ranging from 1 foot to 9 feet. Most of these species, having a snake-like appearance, prefer marshy and damp areas for breeding. Sometimes, they stray into populated areas also.

This correspondent came across one such group of nomads owning a battery of ferocious hunter dogs, on a hot chase of a monitor lizard near Nijjran village on the outskirts of the city. Though, the reptile played hide-and-seek for about an hour, it ultimately fell victim to one of the dogs which caught it as it jumped into a minor.

Roop Ram, head of the group, confessed that they had been hunting and eating the reptiles for the past five years. Isko khane se ek botal se zyada nasha aata hai, aur saath me roti khane ki bhi zaroorat nahi parti. Hamare paas botal jitne paise nahin hote.

(Eating them is more effective than drinking a bottle of liquor. Also there is no need for food. We do not have money to buy alcohol), he said.)

The group said after catching two three reptiles, they roast them before relishing their meat with their families. They said not only “Tapprivasis” but “billimars” (cat killers), who were experts in spotting holes where mongooses and monitor lizards hide themselves, also kill them for the same purpose.