India reportedly is suffering from a shortage of the snakes needed to catch rats that eat from 10 to 15 percent of the nation’s grain. Snake skins are in great demand for shoes and purses in Europe and America, fetching traders as much as $10 (U.S.) per foot after tanning.

Though exports of the skins have been banned, a number of Indians make their living by selling them to traders who smuggle them out of the country.

Alive, their value to the country would be far higher than the export value of their skins, reports The Economist of London. But snake catchers are among the poorest people in a very poor nation, and can hardly be expected to lay down their traps unless offered some alternative income.

One suggestion is that rat skins be substituted, using tanning techniques recently developed in India. Observes The Economist: All that remains is to persuade fashion-conscious Westerners to switch from snakes to rats when they step out in style.

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