Dong Tam Snake Farm

In 1977, the land at Bình Đức, which today lies in Đồng Tháp Province, was still full of mines and barbed wire left by the war. In that wasteland, five soldiers and three snakes of the kind called rắn hổ đất began to build something unusual.

That was the beginning of Trại rắn Đồng Tâm, the Đồng Tâm Snake Farm.

Its full name is longer than the name people use. It is the Center for Cultivation, Research and Processing of Medicinal Materials of Military Region 9. People still shorten it to Trại rắn Đồng Tâm, because that name goes with a very specific story. From three snakes and five staff, the place grew into a large center for conservation, research and medicinal materials. According to the farm's official website, it also has the first snake museum in Vietnam.

At first the establishment was called Xí nghiệp 408, which means Enterprise 408. In 1988 it became the Center for Cultivation, Research and Processing of Medicinal Materials of the Military Region. Besides raising snakes, the center grows more than sixty species of thuốc Nam plants. Thuốc Nam is a name meaning Southern medicine, Vietnam's own herbal medicine. The center belongs to the Logistics and Technical Department of Military Region 9.

The official website says the farm conserves more than fifty rare snake species. It has a separate area for venomous snakes, a separate area for non-venomous snakes, a reptile conservation area, and an area for research and production of medicinal materials. The People's Army newspaper notes a special area for the rắn hổ mang and the hổ chúa. These are two extremely dangerous snakes, but also extremely important in research on venom and in preparing antivenom.

Antivenom is one of the essential medical products. Each year many people are bitten by snakes in the Mekong Delta. Studying snake venom, preparing antivenom matched to the right species, and supplying it in time to local health facilities is part of the mission of the Đồng Tâm Snake Farm. This work has practical value for the community.

The snake museum was built in 1996 and displays nearly 100 rare snake species. It is a space for looking at snakes through science. It covers how to tell venomous from non-venomous snakes by shape, color, scales and head. It covers the role of snakes in the ecosystem, and how to respond properly on meeting a snake in the wild.

Venom is extracted from the snakes by a safe procedure. It is work that demands very high skill and calm from the specialists who do it.

Besides snakes, the Đồng Tâm Snake Farm has another wildlife area and a medicinal garden, green and spread wide. There, more than sixty species of thuốc Nam plants grow side by side on land that was once full of mines and barbed wire.

The story began with three snakes and five staff in 1977. More than four decades later, the Đồng Tâm Snake Farm still quietly keeps the rarest snake species in Vietnam, and draws the venom drop by drop into antivenom that saves lives.