Kurdshop - Ridvan Kurt, a resident of Shirnakh, North part of Kurdistan, established a scorpion maintenance center and venom production three years ago and now owns 3000 scorpions.
Ridvan Kurt, 42, graduated from Kocatepe University in Afyon, Turkey. He holds a bachelor's degree in biology from the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and a master's degree in scorpion research. In 2006, after reading several articles on scorpions, he decided to do research and open a center in his city.
Three years ago, Ridvan Kurt opened a scorpion maintenance and venom production center on a 6300-square-meter plot of land in the Jazir district of Shirnakh. He collected 300 scorpions in the area and later the number of scorpions reached 3000 by breeding.
The center also has three laboratory specialists and a total of four people working there. The venom of the scorpions is collected every 25 days. The resulting venom is stored at 86 degrees below zero.
Scorpion venom is very important from a medical point of view
Ridvan Kurt said, after reading several articles about scorpions, learned about the importance of scorpion venom, which is used in oncology and medical services, and decided to open a center.
In addition to theoretical research, he also conducts field research on scorpion species in the region. "The scorpion species is very important from a medical point of view and we understand it very well. We work on Yellow and black scorpions which are known as Androctonus Crassicauda in the region. This type of poison is medically important and we are working on it".
"We collected about 300 scorpions in the mountains and valleys within two years and after the necessary research was conducted in our center and laboratory, we collected and raised them and the number of scorpions reached 3000," he said.
He also said: "At this center, we are successfully getting poison. We get poison from the scorpions every 25 days. The scorpions are fed regularly and systematically. They hibernate for only 3 months. Each scorpion produces venom 10 times a year. We aim to develop this sector.”
"We systematically collect scorpion venom and store it at 86 degrees below zero. Our goal, from a medical point of view, is to create a basis for organisms that are important and poisonous," he said. Our goal, from a medical point of view, is to create a basis for organisms of interest that have venom so that the toxin can be obtained. Efforts should also be made to sell the poison abroad. We are also in talks with seven companies to sell the poison abroad.
