A young woman in China is gaining attention for managing a large and unusual farm. She raises more than 60,000 venomous snakes and earns over US$146,000 each year. Her story has drawn interest because of the risks involved and the scale of her work.
The woman, surnamed Qin, was born in 1995 and comes from Guilin in Guangxi Province. After finishing university, she returned to her hometown two years later to help her father. He had been running a snake farm for many years, but it became too large for him to manage alone.
Managing Thousands of Snakes
Today, Qin oversees more than 60,000 snakes on the farm. These have over 50,000 pit vipers and over 10,000 cobras, both of which are known to contain very strong venom. She is involved in day-to-day activities such as feeding, care, and collection of venom.
She did not have a supportive father initially. He was concerned about the risks of dealing with poisonous animals. However, as the farm expanded, he accepted her help. Qin said she is not afraid because she grew up watching her father work with snakes.
Multiple Income Sources
The farm earns money in several ways. Qin explained that dried snakes, snake gallbladders, and snake oil are used in traditional medicine. Snake venom is the most precious commodity, as it is sold to medical research.
Snakes trained can generate venom twice a month. Depending on the quality, the price can be 40-200 yuan per gram. Snake meat is also sold, and it usually costs between 200 and 300 yuan per snake, with larger ones costing over 1,000 yuan.
Growing Online Presence
Even after accounting for labor and other expenditures, the farm continues to make over 1 million yuan a year. Besides working on the farm, Qin posts her experiences online as the Girl Who Collects Snake Venom.
She uses her videos to demonstrate day-to-day life on the farm and how snakes are handled. The content she provides has gained her more than 22,000 followers, and this has further increased the number of people who have interests in her unusual career.
More from Wake Up Singapore:
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