Farmers in Lalpur, Natore, have beaten four Russell's vipers to death. The incident took place on Saturday afternoon (22 June) at Nasara village on a char (river island) of the Padma.

Mithun Ali, a local, said farmers went to Nasara char in the afternoon to harvest peanuts. At one point they saw a Russell's viper (chandrabora). The shouts of the farmer working the plot brought neighbouring farmers running, and they beat the snake to death. They then found three young Russell's vipers, which were also killed.

The farmers said they had not known the snake carried such dangerous venom. Only after killing them did they learn that they were venomous Russell's vipers.

Suruzzaman Shamim, resident medical officer at Lalpur Upazila Health Complex, said he had heard about the four Russell's vipers being killed. He advised farmers not to panic but to move about carefully.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.