Three cheers at three, she plays with serpents like toys

KARWAR:  A three-year-old girl in Sirsi is the talk of the town after her pictures with snakes went viral on social media last month. She holds snakes as if they are toys and controls them by holding their tales.
Akarsha from Chipagi area in Sirsi town has so far caught 50 snakes, including poisonous ones. If the snakes hiss, she tries to scare them by showing her hand. Her parents say she would have got the ability to catch snakes and play with them from her forester grandfather who is an expert snake catcher. Akshara’s father Prashanth Hulekal too is a snake rescuer in the area.

According to Akarsha’s family members, Prashanth used to go and catch snakes whenever he gets calls and releases them in the forest. “I always have passion for snakes, wildlife and nature. From younger age, Akarsha started seeing me catching snakes and started imitating it at the house,” says Prashanth Hulekal.
“She began to demand handling snakes at a very young age. When she was two-year-old, she started handling non-poisonous snakes. Gradually, she began handling all types of snakes. Now, she is three-year-old and without any fear, she catches all kinds of snakes. She does not harm snakes and catch them as per our direction,” he added.