Business Insider, Megan
Willett | Mar. 13, 2013,
According to Reuters, the 160 farming families
that live in the Zisiqao village in the Zhejiang Province of China are known
for their snakes. They collectively breed over three million snakes annually
for food and medicinal purposes.
Cobras, vipers, and pythons are not only a
common sight in the small village, but a way of life:Serpents outnumber the
residents 3,000 to one.
It has become quite lucrative for the
residents to raise and sell the snakes, with some even earning tens of
thousands of dollars for their efforts, according to the BBC.
It was Yang Hongchang, a 60-year-old
farmer, who first introduced snake breeding to the village in 1985. When the
wild snakes Hongchang used to catch and sell became scarce, he researched how
to raise snakes at home instead. After three years of successful breeding — and
a healthy profit — the other villagers began to emulate his methods.
The result is an industry unlike any other
in the world, with millions of snakes being raised for food or
traditional Chinese medicine that is not only sold in China , but exported to the United States , Germany ,
Japan , and South Korea
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