Dong Tam Snake Farm is considered the “kingdom” of snakes in Vietnam. Over the past time, this place has been preserving thousands of snakes of more than 50 different species, including many extremely rare snakes that are in danger of extinction. In particular, this is also an attractive eco-tourism destination that attracts tens of thousands of visitors every year…
Dong Tam Snake Farm was established in October 1977, located in Tan Thuan B Hamlet, Binh Duc Commune, Chau Thanh District, about 9km west of My Tho City, Tien Giang Province. The snake farm was established on the initiative of Dr. Tran Van Duoc (Tu Duoc) - a person with knowledge of snakes and passionate about this dangerous job. Mr. Tu Duoc's purpose of raising snakes is to preserve and develop the genetic resources of rare snake species listed in the Red Book that are at risk of extinction.
In 1979, Dong Tam Snake Farm established an Emergency Department (for snakebite treatment). Since its establishment, the medical team at the snake farm has saved tens of thousands of people bitten by snakes, an average of about 1,000 cases/year. There were cases where people bitten by snakes had stopped breathing when they were transferred to the treatment department but were still saved. The people in the Mekong Delta are most happy that when treated here, patients only pay for the serum, all other treatment costs are free.
Raising snakes for their "venom"
According to Dr. Le Van Tam - Deputy Head of the snake treatment area of the camp, the Mekong Delta region's riverine characteristics are favorable conditions for the red-tailed green pit viper to thrive. More dangerously, this type of snake gives birth directly to offspring (other snakes lay eggs). Since the beginning of 2024, the Snakebite Emergency Department has received and treated about 1,000 cases, of which 60-70% were bitten by red-tailed green pit vipers.
Providing further instructions on how to initially handle a snake bite, Dr. Tam said that if bitten by a snake, and it is not known whether the snake is venomous or not, the bite should be cleaned, bandaged as a wound and the patient should be quickly taken to the nearest medical facility for support, first aid, and then taken to a treatment facility with timely antivenom serum.
According to the medical team at the snake farm, venom is collected every 3 months, which is used to make serum to treat snake bites, and to process other medicinal herbs to serve human health. After being collected, the snake venom will be transferred to the medicinal herb processing workshop of Dong Tam Snake Farm for preservation, then processed into crude venom.
As someone who has been involved with the snake farm since the early days with more than 30 years of experience working in a medicinal processing workshop, Lieutenant Colonel Tran Trung Hieu said that raw venom is used to make serum to treat people bitten by snakes and to produce a number of other medicinal herbs. Snake venom is extremely toxic, so when processing it, absolutely no mistakes can occur. Although we know that daily work affects health, the vapor of snake venom is very toxic, can cause difficulty breathing and a number of other dangerous symptoms, the task here is still put first. In particular, the unit must carry out scientific research tasks, with ministerial and state-level topics; emergency and treatment of snake bites for soldiers and civilians in the Mekong Delta region; growing medicinal plants and animals; producing traditional medicine from medicinal sources...
With an area of 12 hectares, the Center for Cultivation, Research and Processing of Medicinal Herbs (or Dong Tam Snake Farm) of the Logistics Department of Military Region 9 has the task of scientific research, snakebite treatment, cultivation and production of traditional medicine; especially this place is also known as a unique scientific eco-tourism area not only in Vietnam but also in the whole Southeast Asia region.
Attractive tourist destination
Dong Tam Snake Farm eco-tourism site was recognized by the People's Committee of Tien Giang province as a 4-star OCOP standard tourist destination in 2022. This is one of the most typical and special tourist destinations in the Mekong Delta.
In recent years, Dong Tam Snake Farm has been known to many domestic and foreign tourists as the "kingdom" of snakes with more than 50 species. In addition, this is also a conservation area for many wild animals, with many species of snakes, birds, and animals such as: Pythons, ostriches, squirrels, salamanders, bears, tigers, gibbons, swans, red pheasants, peacocks, storks, and teals...
Recently, Dong Tam Snake Farm has been raising and breeding venomous snakes for research and medicinal processing, including about 1,000 cobras. In particular, more than 100 king cobras listed in the Vietnam Red Book are being raised, cared for and preserved here.
At the snake farm, there is also a “Snake Museum”, which preserves hundreds of snake specimens of many species living in the Asian region. Therefore, when visiting the museum, visitors will learn more about reptiles in general. The museum has been recognized by the Vietnam Record Book Center as the “First Snake Museum in Vietnam”.
When visiting the snake farm, tourists can watch performances of many species of pythons and snakes, learn about these reptiles and witness staff extracting snake venom. Many tourists are scared but still curious to learn. Some visitors are even excited to check in with pythons wrapped around their bodies, without fear of being bitten.
Visitors are not afraid of being threatened by snakes because the place is strictly safe, with many staff and officers present. Major Tran Thi Thom, the tour guide, shared: “To ensure the safety of visitors, we always consider snake training a vital issue for the unit. To train a snake, the trainer must be highly skilled. Training snakes takes a lot of time, and it is necessary to understand the habits and personalities of snakes to be able to train them. Ferocious and dangerous snakes such as cobras, king cobras, and rattlesnakes, through the training of our staff, have become very gentle and approachable.”
Major Tran Thi Thom added: “During the day, snakes are very slow, so we can tame them so that visitors can experience touching, holding, and grasping them. However, people should absolutely not come into direct contact with snakes, and should not react when there are snakes, as they will naturally leave if we do not touch them. The period when visitors come to visit the station is especially during Tet, and this year is the year of the snake, so there will probably be a lot of visitors.”
This year 2025 is the year of At Ty, certainly this year the number of tourists visiting the snake farm will increase day by day. In the coming time, Dong Tam Snake Farm will continue to renovate, creating a green-clean-beautiful and safe landscape. At the same time, Dong Tam Snake Farm will have many programs to attract domestic and foreign tourists to visit and cooperate with educational institutions so that students can experience reality...
Source: https://daidoanket.vn/du-lich-sinh-thai-o-trai-ran-lon-nhat-miet-vuon-10299155.html
Comment (0)