Snake charming is illegal, and very cruel. Most of the snakes rescued from snake charmers suffer from severe dehydration. Some of the rescued snakes have badly infected mouths as a result of the improper and unhygienic techniques employed by snake charmers to remove their fangs and venom glands. Often, the mouths of pythons are tied with small plastic ropes to ensure that they do not bite when they are taken out by the snake charmer for display on roadsides, and used to beg for money from the general public.

This is cruel. Plain and simple. To see what is being done in India to combat similar cruelty toward "dancing bears", please visit http://www.wildlifesos.org