I became interested in snakes as a kid in the Delta of
Mississippi. There were two books in
the school library on snake identification, and as I was enthralled with
wildlife and the outdoors, and snakes were so prevalent in our area, I made it
a point to study them. As a teenager, I
handled numerous snakes, including poisonous ones.
Snakes get a bad rap.
Even the Bible portrays the snake (and Eve) as evil.
Actually, snakes are one of the most beneficial
creatures to man. They eat bugs, slugs,
mice, rats and numerous vermin.
Poisonous snakes are dangerous and should be
avoided. There are over seven thousand
snake bites recorded each year, but deaths are rare. There were 23 deaths from venomous snakes in
the United States between 2010 and 2018.
Four were from copperheads, four from exotics and 15 from
rattlesnakes.
Four of the deaths were from exotic snakes owned by
the deceased.
Three deaths (2012, 2014,
2015) were from snakes handled in Pentecostal Churches in Kentucky, and West
Virginian.
Three died while messing with the snake trying to remove it from an area.
One died while trying to extract venom
from a copperhead,
and one bitten on the ass while taking a crap in woods. Death
is not funny, but I couldn’t help it – I had to include the last.
There are eight species of snakes in Maine and none of
them poisonous. There is a record of a
timber rattler found in southern Maine in 1901, but that was an anomaly.
However, there were no ticks in Maine forty
years ago but now they are plentiful.
Climate change is causing many animals to extend their habitat
northward.
Snakes should be treated like any other wild
animal. Leave it alone and don’t harm
it.
the Ol’Buzzard
David hates snakes. I love them. They are a necessity of nature.
ReplyDeleteSorry to disagree but fire ants are one species I could stand to exterminate totally.
ReplyDeleteMichigan supposedly has 18 species of snakes, but where we live I don't recall ever seeing more than three: garter snakes, copper bellies, and green grass snakes. There are rattlesnakes south of us in Wisconsin, but so far as I know none have ever been found in the U.P.
ReplyDeleteThe first time I ever saw a venomous snake in the wild was a few years ago in Arkansas. Spotted a copperhead next to the trail. The markings that I think are quite attractive when the snake is seen out of context do work as amazing camouflage when it's in a natural setting. They're gorgeous snakes but hard to see so it's understandable why people get bitten. Copperheads are supposedly the least venomous of the venomous snakes in the U.S. so I'm surprised anyone has died from a bite.
No poisonous snakes here in Northern Minnesota either, although there are some timber rattlesnakes in the southern part of the state, and we also didn't have ticks 30 years ago. Now some species of them are helping to decimate the moose population.
ReplyDeleteSouthern Saskatchewan has rattlesnakes but I have never seen anything but garter snakes which I like as they are beneficial, as you pointed out.
ReplyDelete