Sardor Rahimkhon, ex-singer, was recently appointed deputy head of Vaqf.uz (Public Charity Foundation), released a video footage where he was believed to be attacked by a huge snake. However, the video titled “A SNAKE ATTACKED SARDOR. ORPHANS IN DANGER” was soon removed from YouTube.
The video material shows how a rented python was used to attract the audience's attention to pity a needy family. But, a slithering beast did not rush at anyone, and the house's residents and the official staged a runaway scene.
Moreover, pythons do not live in the wild in Uzbekistan. Their usual habitats are tropical and subtropical terrains, especially in South Asian countries like Brazil. According to a junior researcher at the Institute of Zoology of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan, herpetologist Timur Abduraupov, large snakes can live in Uzbekistan only until winter.
factchecker.uz had been trying to reach out to the foundation’s phone number (+998951951610) given on the charity foundation’s social networks, but to no avail. Then the fact checkers called the following numbers +998951552222, listed on the fund employee’s Instagram account.
“The scene with the snake was indeed staged, but I don’t know where it was taken from and to whom it was returned. Our operators will contact you,” answered the young man. Sadly, within 2–3 days no one contacted me and explained the incident.
During our studies, we finally found an answer to why the snake video was removed. Sometime later, on his Instagram page, Sardor Rakhimkhon tweeted that the serpentine video had been removed because it received a lot of negativity from subscribers.
While reading the comments under the deleted video, we saw that many people were leaving comments like “Kill the snake, what will we do if they come out of our house too? Are these snakes poisonous?, Death to snakes.” In Uzbekistan, pythons can only be found in zoos, exotic animal care centres, or in the homes of rich people who keep them as pets. If a snake appears in your house, it means mice and rats are in your yard. Please don't kill the snake; it will kill all the rodents in your yard and leave your house alone. Snakes play an important role in the food chain: as hunters, they hunt small animals, and as prey, they are a food source for large predators (eg birds, and mammals of prey).

This video from the deputy head of the foundation caused fear and anxiety among the population, which does not have complete information about snakes. If charity and generosity are done from the heart, people themselves will recognize who the benefactor is. Keeping exotic snakes as pets should be banned in Uzbekistan. Currently, in Uzbekistan, snakes are killed for no reason and their meat is eaten “for various diseases.” The population in our country is rapidly declining. By protecting and preserving them, we help maintain natural balance.

Factchecker. uz is waiting for the Charitable Foundation's reaction regarding the current situation.
Factchecker. uz verdict: false