Unfortunately, Tanith, I think that you may be right.
Follow this link:
http://www.serendipity.li/gilman/chap24.html
Just in case that is altered, here is a transcript
A Buddhist temple down the road is a stranger sight. It's the 'Snake Temple'. When it was built a colony of bright green and yellow fanged serpents, Wilson's Vipers they are called, came to reside in the temple. They are relatively lethargic, and don't bite ...... at least, not today.
The monks feed them and believe they are sacred. They have the run, so to speak, of the temple and grounds.
A hawker is there, of course, with camera, handling the snakes, wrapping them around tourists, shooting the scene. Memories.
I pick a few up. Snake tongues darting out, eyes winking. It's a little like playing poker with Destiny as the snakes stare at me, evenly, in the eyes.
The hawker keeps warning me that I'll get bitten, and doing all he can to persuade me to release those serpents. I'm ruining his business.
I knew that the monks would never be involved in any butchery like this. It sounds as though it is the hawkers doing the maiming. What a shame!
Incidentally, the temple is in Penang, Malaysia. And I have no idea what a 'Wilsons viper' is.