Afghan man befriends scorpions, snakes

With snakes kept at home and scorpions crawling on his face, "Doctor Shirzad" is somewhat frightful although he is usually a kind man and preferred amongst the villagers.

This exceptional man, Al-Hajj Mohammad Shirzad, loves venomous reptiles and arachnids and keeps the poisonous creatures as pets with hundreds of scorpions and snakes always kept in his muddy property outside Parwan's provincial capital Charikar, 55 km north of Afghan capital Kabul.

"I like scorpions and snakes. These are my pals," medical doctor Shirzad mentioned though playing having a number of scorpions and venomous snakes.

A father of six, Shirzad asserted his children have also befriended the poisonous creatures.

His teenage son Suliman is also witnessed in house yard passing time with quite a few scorpions in his hands, on face and forehead.

Attired in doctor's white dress, the clean shaved Shirzad said he has been applying the poison of snakes and scorpions in medical therapy for all those struggling with leprosy and epilepsy.

"I have supplied medical therapy to some five,000 individuals who had suffered from leprosy and epilepsy from 38 countries," Shirzad told Xinhua whilst extracting the venom of a snake to a bottle.

"I begun this practice in Iran in 1975 when I applied to live there as Afghan refugee and given that then I'm engaged with snakes and scorpions and I regard these two dangerous animals as my friends," Shirzad said.

"I am certain I can reside with ten,000 scorpions these days and can challenge anybody in the planet," he contended.

On the other hand, Shirzad admitted he is afraid of poisonous spider. He said he is trying to tame a brand new 1, pointing at a bottle where he keeps a black venomous eight-legged animal.

In the war-torn Afghanistan exactly where the rate of unemployment and poverty is high, Shirzad has chosen a lucrative profession that is the truth is a self-employed scheme.

Although it is a hazardous job, he expressed satisfaction over his business, by saying "on a single hand I past time with all the poisonous creatures though on the other, I earn dollars to assistance my loved ones correctly."

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