By María Elena Barragán-Paladines | 07 November 2024
Ecuador is among the smallest countries in South America, and despite of this, this country has almost 10% of the world’s snake species. The Gustavo Orces Herpetological Foundation (FHGO), is an Ecuadorian NGO created in 1989. Its mission is “To contribute to the conservation of Ecuadorian Amphibians and Reptiles through research and education, to create environmental awareness through team work and cooperation with other organizations and the community.”
One of the organization iconic programs launched in those years and currently in place is the project “The Quito Vivarium” which created the Program for Education and Community Prevention of Accidents with Snakes, today called the PEPCAS program, in which concrete actions are implemented for the conservation of snakes.
This coherent and ambitious conservation program was born with the identification of needs in urban and rural areas into the identification of snake species, the understanding of the toxicity of venoms and to measure the impact of this type of accidents in human populations living in isolated areas. This information will allow us to implement a series of strategies to disseminate aspects about snake´s biology, behavior and natural history and implementation of actions towards changings negative attitudes towards this group of vertebrates.
That approach also helped us to identify strategic allies in several fields. In 2002 our organization was part of the collaborative research project on snakebite in Ecuador, undertaken by Professor David Theakston, WHO Collaborating Centre for the Control of antivenoms, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Univesrity of Liverpool, UK; Professor David A. Warrell, University of Oxford, UK; Dr. R. Smalligan, Voz Andes Hospital, Amazon region, Shell, Pastaza-Ecuador; and Dr. A. Guevara & Dr. Calvopina, Hospital Voz Andes Quito-Ecuador. This project was part of a global initiative called South American Bites and Sting Programme,
In the following years, several new activities were taking place including the provision of venoms for the most important species identified as snakes with medical importance. In 2002 our organization received a grant from the British Council, and the English Government to create the first laboratory of Ecuadorian venomous snakes for research purposes, managed until today for research purposes and studies of venom, behaviour and natural history.
Program for education and community prevention of accidents with snakes
Another important part of the initiative was to involve local communities from coastal, mountain and Amazon regions, increasing the capacity of communities to prevent accidents in areas with high incidence of snake bites.in order to reduce the impact that venomous snakes have on these communities.
After 34 years since this initiative began, the road has been long and difficult, mainly to obtain long-term funds that allow us to keep these projects going, and nowadays we still make enormous efforts to keep them active.
Thanks to some scholarships, local and international funds and in some cases the own financing efforts of this Ecuadorian NGO, we keep this program active throughout the country. The activities carried out also include workshops for children, women and organized groups in order to recognize venomous/non venomous species, trainee sessions to provide skills and tools for snake encountering in populated areas, prevention and snake-bite accidents management. These activities are also supported by the distribution of printed material, to help complement the topics addressed by the technicians in life talks through the communities.
This program has been coordinated by this Ecuadorian NGO where the involvement of community members has allowed us to generate trust throughout these years, and not only has it been possible to compile ecological information about the species, but it has also helped gather information on other aspects of interest. This is the case of information on the impact of venomous snakes on human populations in remote areas. Although all data collection was carried out within the framework of field work to collect biological information, it always involved members of the community. These projects have been of various types such as: monitoring of reptiles-amphibians, collection of epidemiological data, and in certain cases it was possible to collect information in certain areas where there are little-known species.
This has also meant the collection of ethnozoological, anthropological and cultural information on aspects about snake names, symbology’s and community interpretations of species.
Without a doubt, collaborative work has been key in this entire process, even when long-term efforts, initiatives and funding are necessary. Despite this, the results of this work allowed us to publish the first compendium of biological, epidemiological and systematic information on the group of Viperids and Elapids of Ecuador, in 2016. This publication includes 36 species of venomous snakes, a work that has been made available of various social actors.
Our goal is to maintain this program for a long time and keep active the participation of local communities in conservation initiatives. We have the support of sister organizations with the same objectives. We share and learn from similar initiatives in other countries and we are sure that joint work focused on the snake group is possible and will give other positive results.
The impact of snakebite accidents mainly affects poor and low-income families who live in remote areas of Ecuador. Some issues have been shown globally as the main concerns with this type of accidents, and Ecuador in no exception: the NO-access to antivenom therapy, the lack of enough vials in health services at a country level, the non-existence of health centers with professionals well trained in this area to provide accurate treatment. It is in these circumstances where snake-bite accidents become an important socioeconomic and health problem.
Even though venomous snakebites have further been declared as a public health crisis by the World Health Organization and therefore countries around the world are making efforts to help communities address this problems, it is urgent to establish policies that guarantee free access to serums, creation of centres with a minimum supply of serums according to real statistics, collection of data on the impact according to gender, activity, age, and the establishment of strategies for reintegration of people with disabilities caused by this type of accidents.
Deaths associated with snakebite accidents worldwide are around 120,000 cases. Most of them occur in Africa, Asia and Latin America (World Health Organization, March 17/21).
Ecuador is no exception, and due to the traumatic effects of this type of accident, venomous and non-venomous snakes are feared and are often systematically eliminated, resulting in a reality that causes more accidents than are prevented.
Table 1: Number of snakebite accidents in Ecuador. Ecuadorian Health Ministry, 2022
The work that has been carried out over all these years in rural and urban areas of Ecuador-South America, in snake-bite prevention and species identification, has helped us understand that in general people have a negative attitude towards snakes and this is explained by the mutilations or amputations that will generate lifelong physical disabilities.
On the other hand, there is also a lack of knowledge about the behavior of snakes. But clearly religion has also played a determining role in the increase in the negative view of these animals, which has led to a very biased interpretation of the behavior, habits and danger of the species.
These aspects increase even more fears against snakes in those who live in rural areas of the country where there is a compressed economy.
New approaches: Art to conserve snakes
The objective of this approach has been in general terms to change the bad image for which snakes are annihilated. Through community engagement and outreach processes, a harmonious relationship between humans and snakes is also fostered, with the specific conservation benefit of reducing threats and mitigating snake population declines in the wild. The PEPCAS project includes strategies to precisely promote collaboration, thanks to training and empowering communities to generate some activity from which they can generate a positive impact that helps improve their income in some way.
This approach arises through multiple projects and training processes, talks and workshops for human groups. Among these, it is important to highlight groups of women who are already organized and have the need to learn and be part of biodiversity conservation processes.
This work has been a long-term project, but it has allowed us to identify strengths in the communities. Among them the need and desire to learn about snakes, based on their diverse shapes, colors and patterns.
After thirty years of work, we have found that learning processes, as well as local knowledge, have opened a door and a possibility to talk about the role of snakes in ecosystems and created a more positive attitude towards them.
We have held several workshops in the communities so far. Around 4,000 people from different communities on the coast, mountains and Amazon have benefited from these processes.
Recently, from July 16 to 22/23, a workshop was held to demonstrate techniques for weaving bracelets themed around coral snake colors.These moments of sharing and talking about snakes are important spaces and opportunities where members of rural communities (Alto Tambo Community, Zapote community on the Ecuadorian coast) came together in a space of coexistence.
Professionals and students of Biology, veterinary medicine, environmental engineering, among others, as well as women from different regions of the country were able to learn and weave bracelets inspired by the colors of the coral snakes found in Ecuador. This is a small-big step that we are taking for now, but we are sure that this initiative can be replicated, generating more interest and also an economic income for those who manufacture and market these bracelets.
We are convinced that these are long-term processes from the presentation of our project to the communities, to the generation of interest, and the creation of commitments from the identification of needs regarding snakes, to improve, prevent accidents and move towards a better human-snake coexistence. We need support and sponsors who believe in this idea to conserve snakes. And the opportunity to be part of the Community Engagement Network and Women Champions of Snakebite, is without a doubt a great way to share experiences, and learn from other realities similar to the Ecuadorian ones.
María Elena Barragán-Paladines is the Executive Director of the Gustavo Orcés Herpetological Foundation (Ecuador), a member of the Snakebite Community Engagement Network (SCEN) Steering Committee and the Women Champions of Snakebite (WCOS).