Sanjay was a good boy with a sharp mind. He used to observe everything around him very keenly. He would spend a lot of time thinking about the reasons and solutions of even a little incident that would happen in his school or home, or even if got to know about it through some information system like newspaper, radio, or TV. This made him understand his subjects well and grasp the topic in depth.
One day, he heard some noise in the street where he lived. A few people were rushing around shouting loudly, “Be careful, there’s a snake!” “In the sewage…”, somebody saw the tail of a snake entering a house through the sewage and alerted the homeowners. A few men gathered around a few children also watched it from a distance—they were curious to know what would happen next.
After a lot of commotion, it was decided by the group of people that they will need to kill the snake, because it may be poisonous, though nobody was sure whether it was poisonous or not. The decision was based on fear. One of them even boasted that he had killed many in the past—he declared himself a “champion snake-killer”.
The children were concerned because their innocent minds wanted to save the snake but they could not be brave enough to do it themselves. To their dismay, after some time, the snake was killed with long bamboo sticks.
Sanjay was also watching it and wondering what he could have done—his father was one of the elders who gave the verdict that the snake needed to be killed. However, he was pained by the whole incident. He thought, “Did we explore all the possible options before deciding to kill the snake?”
The whole incident left a deep impact on his young mind till one day he met the elder brother of one of his friends. He had come back home to spend some holidays. He worked as a wildlife rescuer in another city where they provided assistance to people who would sight reptiles among houses, schools, and parks, etc.
Sanjay learned from him that it is not always necessary to kill a reptile—it can be rescued and safely returned to its wild habitat.
Sanjay was very happy to know that there is such an option where even if the snake is poisonous, killing it can still be avoided. With a little effort, its life could be spared. His young mind was inspired by this thought and he decided that when he grew up, he will become a wildlife rescuer and would encourage others to not kill animals without making maximum efforts to save them.
