Posted on 02/21/2016 9:02:00 PM PST by BlatherNaut
Outrage at 'snake island': Massachusetts residents' anger at rattlesnake colony planned for uninhabited island but wildlife officials insist there is no risk
Plans to establish a colony of venomous rattlesnakes on an island in Massachusetts have been met with outrage due to fears that the animals could escape.
Timber rattlesnakes are indigenous to the New England state, and with only about 200 left, wildlife officials are fighting to save the endangered species.
Tom French of the state's Division of Fisheries and Wildlife hopes the snakes, which currently inhabit five scattered pockets throughout Massachusetts, can come together on Mount Zion, the largest island in the Quabbin Reservoir.
But people are concerned about their own safety - especially since rattlesnakes can swim and the island is connected to the mainland by a pair of narrow causeways.
French, who is directing the project and representing the state at a public meeting on Tuesday to address concerns, said people are driven by irrational fears. He said: 'People are afraid that we're going to put snakes in a place of public use and that they are going to breed like rabbits and spread over the countryside and kill everybody,' he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
We have Lyme disease everywhere now because Connecticut decided to wipe out their rattlers.
Without their primary predators, the vermin population exploded and the rest is history.
God put snakes here for a reason.
[bubonic plague, anyone?]
This map no doubt shows where they *aren’t*
http://www.wbur.org/2012/06/25/massachusetts-lyme-disease-map
Merkel would!
The plague is found in Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico and AZ. And CA. And they”ve all got plenty of venomous serpents.
Besides, a touch of the Black Death? why just get plenty of sleep, drink lots of fluids, and you’ll die rested and hydrated.
I thought we were supposed to take an aspirin?
I live on several acres out in the countryside. I have rattle snakes. If they are out in the woods, I leave them alone. If they are near my house I kill them. They could kill my dog.
St.Patrick would disagree and drive out the snakes. Here’s to the Irish!
I thought they already did this on Marthas Vinyard.
Whose hairbrained idea was this? These critters are varmints — no need to go out of one’s way to protect them.
Most people have an irrational fear of snakes. Here in the socialist state of CT, the ‘snakes’ are in the statehouse.
The only snakes I have encountered on rare occasions,when not actively looking for them,are garter snakes, which are non-poisonous and harmless. I rarely see/find snakes when looking for them, and they are almost always garter snakes.
I have never seen a wild rattler or even a copperhead in CT in 60 years.
They didn’t, but maybe they should ;)
https://vineyardgazette.com/news/2015/06/10/search-black-racers-slithering-along-island-snakes
Rattlesnakes are gentlemen compared to copperheads. At least they warn you.
He added it was critical to save the snakes, which could disappear forever due to human-caused deaths and a loss of habitat.
In this case, good riddance.
Can the mosquitoes be next?
After Fire Ants first.
I live in the Driftless region of Wisconsin. This area is very hilly with lots of rocks. According to one nationally known snake expert I talked to one time at a nature meeting, it's one of the best places in the U.S. for timber rattlesnakes.
Yet growing up in the area and climbing the bluffs regularly as a child, I never saw ONE timber rattlesnake. Or any rattlesnake. Because, as you stated, they, timber rattlesnakes, are not very aggressive. There has not been one single reported death from a bite from a timber rattler in this area.
In fact, there has only been on reported death from rattlesnake bite in Wisconsin history. Some young girl actually sat on a rattlesnake in eastern Wisconsin some years ago. She was too far from the hospital and died from the bite.
In fact, the only rattlesnake I've come across in my sixty+ years of hiking in the area was very dead. So it's not a real danger to hike in shorts and sneakers. Just be careful where you put your hands when climbing on or around rocky bluffs, and if you hear something rattle, back away.
Heck - tell the Public that they’re being bred for food - they taste sorta-kinda like stringy chicken.....ate my share at some of the Rattlesnake Roundups while in Oklahoma.
And I will throw in some copperheads...at least diamondbacks warn you before they bite. Our mountain in upstate Pa is crawling with them.
Because .gov wildlife mgmnt programs are sooo successful.
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