rodent control?
(at the closing:) “Economics of Damage and Control .....It is very doubtful that snakes have much effect on the density of rodents”
http://icwdm.org/handbook/reptiles/RattleSnakes.asp
what is more likely to happen is that deer and other wildlife are going to be bitten in the legs and face and die
if rattlers migrate into settled areas, then livestock, dogs and cats are endangered.
to me, rattlers are the same as gophers and cockroaches - best dead on sight, having outlived their evolutionary tree
A rattler might eat 4 times a year. If they’re using that excuse it’s a poor one. For rodent control the Fox probably tops the list, it will consume several daily. Here on the ranch there are tree things that get shot on sight and that’s rattlers, feral hogs and coyotes. On average I’ll kill about 75 to 100 rattlers a year and that’s not counting what the hands kill or the oil field guys kill.