Dipak Sardar, a man in his mid-70s known as Sorpobondhu, or "friend of snakes", died from a snake bite at his home in Debra, West Midnapore, on Thursday morning.
Sardar, who had dedicated his life to spreading awareness about the importance of preserving snakes, was bitten by a cobra while handling the serpent at his home, where he kept 12 snakes of different species.
Sardar was rushed to a nearby state-run super-specialty hospital but succumbed to the venom in the early hours of Thursday.
He had been bitten by snakes on eight prior occasions and had survived with the aid of anti-venom injections. This time, however, the bite proved fatal.
"On every occasion, he managed to survive with the help of treatment with anti-venom injections. But this time, he could not make it," said Sumit Sarkar, a friend of Sardar.
Originally from South 24 Parganas district, Sardar had been living in Debra for the past 40 years.
Under the banner of Paschim Banga Bigyan Mancha, he had conducted over 300 workshops across rural Bengal, advocating for the protection of snakes and educating people about their ecological importance.
Babulal Shashmal, secretary of the science forum’s West Midnapore district, expressed sorrow at the irony of Sardar’s death.
"It is unfortunate that a person like him, who spent his entire life to make people understand that snakes should not be killed, died from the bites of his own snake," he said.
Despite the risks, Sardar had kept 12 snakes at his home, a practice which is illegal.
"He used to feed them regularly and would invite people who favoured killing snakes, show them the species, and lecture them on why snakes should be protected," said Shashmal.
Manish Yadav, the divisional forest officer of Kharagpur, confirmed that the snakes had been rescued from Sardar’s home and would be released into the wild.
"We will release them in forests. An investigation will also be initiated to find out from where he had collected the snakes and why he kept them at his home," Yadav said.
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