To Fight Fierce Rat Infestation, Lucky Hakim Releases Thousands of Snakes in Indramayu

JAKARTA - Actor and Regent of Indramayu, Lucky Hakim, has launched an unusual initiative to help farmers in Indramayu who have suffered losses due to rat infestations.

Through a program called "Ulari Sahabat Tani," he is releasing thousands of non-venomous snakes into rice fields in the hope of naturally controlling the rat population.

According to Lucky, farmers are desperate to deal with the rampant rat infestations that are causing crop failures. Various methods have been tried, but to no avail.

"We have released thousands of male and female snakes into locations infested with rats. It's a shame the farmers are suffering crop failures and suffering huge losses due to the massive rat infestation. This is called the Ular Sahabat Tani movement," Lucky Hakim told reporters recently.

Not only is Lucky working alone, he is also trying to spread the program more widely by partnering with digital content creators to educate the public.

"I also invite my YouTuber friends and other influencers to Indramayu to make this program a success and help farmers," he continued.

This program was well-received by the farming community, who saw it as a new hope after other efforts had failed.

"Thank God, this movement has been well-received by the farming community, and more and more farmer groups from various sub-districts are requesting the release of the Farmer's Friend Snakes. Please pray for its continued success and for farmers' prosperity," he concluded.

One of the biggest challenges in Lucky Hakim's "Farmer's Friend Snakes" program is overcoming the community's fear of snakes.

Aware of this, Lucky actively provides education and assurances that the snakes being released are completely safe for humans and are actually friendly to farmers.

Lucky explained that previous methods, such as poison and electrocution, are actually more dangerous.

"Farmers are worried, poisoning rats is actually dangerous for other animals... to the point where illegally installing electric shocks actually results in humans being electrocuted, resulting in many fatalities, but the rats don't die," Lucky Hakim said.

When faced with questions from residents about the safety of the snakes, Lucky answers not only with words but also with evidence.

"Some community representatives asked, 'Isn't it dangerous, Regent?' I responded with proof that the Farmer's Friend Snake Program is safe. The snakes are non-venomous, and they don't grow as large as pythons," he explained.

To further convince them, he even showed videos proving the snake's harmless bite.

"If it were caught and bitten, it would only cause a scratch because its teeth are small. As proof, I even showed videos of the snake biting my hand; it only caused a small wound and was completely harmless," he said.

The "Farmer's Friend Snake" program, initiated by Lucky Hakim, was not a reckless act, but rather a calculated ecological strategy to restore the damaged balance of nature.

According to him, the rat population explosion occurred because its natural predators had been hunted and killed.

"This is a snake species native to Indramayu. Rat populations used to be controlled when there were plenty of snakes, monitor lizards, and owls. But because snakes were considered frightening, many were killed," Lucky Hakim explained.

"Not only snakes, but monitor lizards and owls are also hunted and captured. The effect of this action is that the rat population has become large and uncontrollable," he continued.

This initiative complements the previous program, which involved releasing owls. Lucky explained that these two predators have different hunting methods, allowing them to "gang up" on rats from all directions.

"The downside is that owls can't enter rat holes; they only prey on adult rats that wander around at night, while there are still plenty of baby rats in their holes. That's why we initiated the Farmer's Friend Snake Program," Lucky explained.

With this strategy, snakes attack nests and prey on the baby rats inside, while owls hunt adult rats at night.

"This male bull python can eat two to three adult rats per week. If it enters rat burrows and nests, it can eat up to ten baby rats at once," he concluded, demonstrating the effectiveness of this two-predator strategy.