Tue, Dec 09, 2014 page7

• Naturalist wrestles into snake’s maw to raise Amazon rainforest awareness

  • AFP, NEW YORK
  • • 
    • 
    • 

  When naturalist Paul Rosolie wanted to focus attention on the destruction of the Amazon rainforest, he decided he needed a stunt guaranteed to get people looking.

  So the environmentalist offered himself as dinner to an anaconda — and was prepared to be swallowed alive, filming every moment.

  In the end, Rosolie was not exactly ingested by the snake, disappointing viewers who expected a journey into the belly of the beast.

  

  Paul Rosolie speaks during an interview at the Discovery Channel offices in New York on Wednesday last week.

  Photo: AFP

  Instead he let the anaconda coil around him before calling the mission off, fearing he might get seriously injured. Anacondas, the largest snakes in the world, typically suffocate their prey before ingesting it, making Rosolie’s attempt all the more dangerous.

  Rosolie survived, and now people all around the world have a chance to watch his harrowing struggle with the beast, after its debut broadcast on Sunday night in the US on the Discovery Channel.

  The idea came to him after a decade spent working to save rainforest habitats, Rosolie told reporters.

  “Everybody on Earth knows that the rainforests are disappearing and most people can tell you how important they are, but still, not enough people are paying attention, not enough people realize this is such a problem,” Rosolie said.

  The US activist said he was proud to take on the adventure, despite the risk of dying.

  To avoid suffocating, experts crafted Rosolie a carbon fiber suit with a breathing system — alongside cameras and a system to communicate.

  “We didn’t know whether this was going to work — if I was going to be eaten — but we made sure that if I did make it inside the snake, I wouldn’t suffocate,” Rosolie said after the ordeal.

  The next challenge was trying to find a snake in the Peruvian Amazon jungle.

  “We spent 60 days out in the jungle, camping, hiking, looking through swamps every night,” Rosolie said.

  Eventually, the production team found a 6m female snake.

  “When I went up to the snake, it didn’t try to eat me right away,” Rosolie said. “It tried to escape. And when I provoked it a little bit, and acted a little more like a predator, that’s when it turned around and defended itself.”

  In the end, Rosolie was not swallowed whole by the giant serpent, but instead wrestled with the beast as it coiled around him before he aborted the mission.

  As the snake wrapped around the suited-up Rosolie — at one point opening its wide jaws on his helmet — the daredevil said it was squeezing his arm tight, which he feared might break.

  “I felt her jaw on my helmet and I could hear a gurgling and wheezing,” he said.

  His team looked on worried as his breathing strained and his heart rate slowed. He told them he was feeling light-headed and as the anaconda squeezed tight around him, he called for help.

  “Guys you need to get in here... I’m calling it, I need help,” he said, prompting his rescue.

  “Her crush force was fully on my exposed arm, so I just started to feel the blood drain out of my hand and I felt the bone start to flex and — when that got to a point when I felt like it was about to snap — I had to tap out,” he said.

  Viewers on social media sites were swift in criticizing the show’s misleading title after it aired. “Eaten Alive to be retitled Eaten Alive: Just Kidding,” one user said. Another tweeted: “Eaten Alive? More like Briefly Drooled On By A Snake While Alive.”

  Rosolie insisted that his team was careful not to harm the snake and that he was the only one in danger.

  “We didn’t force the snake to do anything, we didn’t ask from the snake anything out of the ordinary,” Rosolie said, adding that “snakes very often regurgitate if they’re eating something and a predator comes by — they have to give up their meal so they can escape.”

  The anaconda is now doing well, he said.

  However, Rosolie has faced fierce criticism from animal rights groups, including People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, who said “the snake was tormented and suffered for the sake of ratings.”

  Rosolie said he even received death threats.

  However, he was not fazed, saying the shock value is important to increase attention for his cause.

  A fund linked to the show was set up to raise awareness and money to protect the Amazon and could also allow for more research of anacondas in their habitat.

  Discovery said it expects at least 3 million viewers in the US and 1 million more globally.
• Most Popular

  • 1

    Taiwan to purchase 28 more HIMARS

  • 2

    Taipei tops list of cities with ‘highest staying power’

  • 3

    Tropical Storm Podul strengthens into typhoon

  • 4

    Alcaraz battles as Shelton, Zverev ease through

  • 5

    Podul intensifies as it approaches: CWA