The first dial-a-snake-charmer service is set to be launched in India,
reports The Far Eastern Economic Review.
The practice of luring serpents out of baskets using a "magical" flute is
illegal these days, because of strict animal-conservation laws. But
conservationists plan to find employment for out-of-work charmers by hiring
them out to catch snakes that have slipped into people's homes.
A charmer can earn between 50 and 500 rupees ($1.40 to $14) to catch a
snake, while he would typically earn just 75 rupees for a whole day of playing
his gourd-flute and making a snake dance in front of crowds.