Bengaluru: The sight of a snake can be scary. But for a few, these slithery creatures can be their best friends. 

Mukhtar Ali, from Uttarakhand is a painter by profession. 

But he devotes most of his time rescuing snakes. 

All thanks to rapid urbanisation, snakes are the worst affected as they stray into human habitat and making people scared of them.

Ali rescues them to the best of his ability. During monsoon (three months) he stops his profession and devotes the entire time to his slithery friends.   

He says, “I am a painter. But when monsoon starts, I start rescuing snakes”. 

For Ali it was just a passing interest, but now, it has become his passion. This year alone, he has rescued not fewer than thousand snakes. 
Ali urges people not kill the snakes once they sight them and instead, inform him so that he can come to the place of sighting and rescue them. 

Life is certainly not easy for this rescuer. He has to work hard to earn his living. But at the same time, the love for these beings has pushed him to the limits. 

Fortunately, though he suffers financially, his friend has lent a helping hand to extricate himself out of the mess. 

Incidentally, it was this friend of his that introduced him to the noble venture. 

In this way, he has helped rescue cobras, pythons, Russell’s Vipers and many other species.