New Delhi, December 9 – Earlier this year, noted naturalist Paul Roselie offered himself as dinner to a 25-foot long anaconda, weighing 400 pounds. This act of his was also filmed by him in the dense Amazon forest. The Discovery channel has aired the video, aptly titled ‘Eaten Alive’, in the United States on Sunday.
Rosolie is an award-winning wildlife filmmaker, author and naturalist who has specialised in the western Amazon for nearly a decade. “I didn’t want to stress the snake much. I wanted to make sure that the suit was smooth and wasn’t going to hurt the snake,” Rosolie said, IANS reported.
Rosolie wore a special suit to accomplish the task and he said he felt proud to have taken on the adventure, Agence France-Presse reported. Hailing from New Jersey, Rosolie spent almost 60 days in Peru hiking through the Amazon rainforest with a team of a dozen people.
They studied anacondas in the wild, noting down the weight, length and sex of each snake they came across. Finally, when they found the approprite snake, it took 12 people fighting in water above their heads to catch the 400-500 pound reptile, IANS reported.
In order to attract the snake towards him, Roselie wrapped himself in pig’s blood. Rosolie has faced severe criticism from animal rights groups, including from PETA, who said “the snake was tormented and suffered for the sake of ratings.”
Rosolie defended himself by saying that they didn’t force the snake to do anything, “we didn’t ask from the snake anything out of the ordinary,” Rosolie said, Agence France-Presse reported. The programme, to be aired soon in India is an attempt to raise awareness and money to save the anaconda’s habitat.
-INDIA TODAY
