Chennai Snake Park Trust

Chennai Snake Park Trust is a not-for-profit organisation constituted in 1972 by a group of naturalists that included Romulus Whitaker, M. Krishnan, A. N. Jagannatha Rao, S. Meenakshisundaram, M. V. Rajendran, Harry Miller and Doris N. Chattopadhyaya. It runs a reptile park that houses snakes, crocodilians, turtles, tortoises and lizards. The Trust exists to replace fear of reptiles with accurate knowledge. Its stated objectives are to display a captive reptile collection that draws public interest, dispel widespread misconceptions about snakes, aid research on reptiles and amphibians, undertake captive breeding of endangered reptile species, and build public support for conservation. It is governed by an elected board of trustees together with official nominees from state and central bodies. Education and research run through everything the Trust does. It conducts awareness sessions for school groups, herpetology teaching for undergraduate, postgraduate and veterinary students, and snakebite mitigation training for forest, fire and rescue personnel. Its research arm, the Advanced Centre for Conservation Education, Planning and Training, is affiliated to the University of Madras for doctoral work and offers a Diploma in Wildlife Tourism jointly with Tamil Nadu Open University. The Trust publishes the half-yearly herpetology journal COBRA and a series of low-priced books in English and Tamil.