Whose hairbrained idea was this? These critters are varmints — no need to go out of one’s way to protect them.
No, rattle snakes aren’t varmints, they eat the varmints. Seriously people, if a snake scares you so bad that you have to kill it on sight, if the poop hits the fan, put a bullet in your head because you’re not tough enough to survive a disaster.
Let me clear it up for everyone.
1. Rattle snakes aren’t aggressive. They will become defensive if they feel they are in danger. The hint here is to leave them alone.
2. Rattle snakes are becoming endangered and are protected in many states. In quite a few states, killing a rattle snake is a felony. Why are rattle snakes becoming endangered? Just look at the mouth breathers on this thread and how excited they get about killing a “mean ol’ rattler” and you have your answer.
3. Rattle snakes are one of the most important natural resources we have for controlling the spread of disease. Lymes disease, rabies, rat bite fever, etc. are all spread through rodents and the parasites they carry. Snakes eat the rodents and the parasites on the rodents reducing the spread of these diseases. Rattle snakes are one of the top predators in this arena.
4. If you do find a rattle snake on your property, leave it alone or call someone like me, a local herper, to remove it and relocate it. If you try to kill it, your chances of getting bit go up about 95%. There are people like me who will come out, safely remove the animal and relocate it somewhere safe where it won’t have to worry about getting killed by uneducated people.
5. Stop fear mongering. You sound like anti gunners in a rabid anti gun freak fest. There is a lot of fear and voodoo with no basis in reality. What you are doing is feeding into a panic frenzy. Do you also look for monsters under the bed at night?
I work with snakes every day. I’ve rescued everything from garter snakes to Gabon vipers to 20+ foot reticulated pythons. I know snakes very well and it’s disappointing to see people that are so astute on politics turn into drooling retards on the matter of snakes. Seriously people, they’re not out to get you. When you kill a snake, you open the door for a lot of rodents to possibly infect you with some very nasty diseases. Respect the slithers, don’t fear them. And please, just stop the stupid fear mongering.