Rattlesnake Roundups

I have had it with Animal Planet. I thought this channel was supposed to promote conservation and inform people about misunderstood creatures. I'm sure everyone has seen the ads for their new show "Rattlesnake Republic" which follows around the morons that capture hundreds of rattlesnakes and then slaughter them after being shown at festivals with their mouths sewed shut. Yeah, that's really helping the cause Animal Planet...

A photo from "Rattlesnake Republic." "Hey remember that time you got bit?" "Which time!?!?" "AHAHAAHAHA!"  Yeah, this is who were working with here. 

According the the Center for Biological Diversity, these roundups occur in Alabama, Georgia, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas (go figure). A recent study conducted in Texas by Adams et. al. in 1994 stated that 8,820 kg of snakes were purchased from hunters. The average Western Diamondback Rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox) weighs between 1.8 and 2.7 kg. If we use the higher end of that range, that means at least 3,267 snakes were purchased alone. Rattlesnakes are considered apex predators, which basically means they are one of the main predators. Animals higher on the food chain are much fewer in number than animals lower on the food chain. For a bit of persepective, we can look at the cougar (another apex predator) harvest in New Mexico for 2012. Hunters bagged 198 cougars in the 2011-2012 season (New Mexico Cougar Harvest). Yes, cougars are much larger and prey on larger prey items, but their trophic levels are very similar. A deer harvest will tend to be much larger as in Indiana for 2008, almost 130,000 deer were harvested (source: Deer Harvest by State (IDNR)). Any rational human being should be stunned to see these numbers. The reason the deer harvest is so high is because they are so prolific in Indiana to begin with. They can easily bounce right back and management is in place to protect the deer from disappearing completely. This is not the case for the rattlers. There are no restrictions in place and the rattlers are disappearing. Here is the evidence: Evidence for the depletion of rattlesnakes. 

So now for the visual evidence.

Yep, those are rattlesnake heads (preservevenomous.com)

I'm sure he know's what he's doing...not. (herpsofarkansas.com)

Nice technique, now let it give you a kiss. (herpsofarkansas.com)

Ok, one more and then I'll talk about these morons a little bit more. 

Ok, I'm not even gonna start with all the things that are wrong in this picture. (durangotexas.blogspot.com)

Sweetwater, Texas is the epicenter of all this rattlesnake carnage. If you haven't figured it out yet, rattlesnake roundups culminate in these festivals where the snakes are piled into corrals, usually with their mouths sewed shut, and then shown off to attendees for awhile. After that, they are decapitated (picture one), skinned, and then grilled out like a redneck barbecue. The skins are used for boots, bags, and belts. Sounds like great fun,right? Well let's think about what it would be like if we had these festivals in Indiana, only with deer. Live deer would be packed into tiny enclosures, probably with their legs tied together so they couldn't hurt the "expert handlers" and then they would be poked with sticks and paraded around to have pictures taken with. After that, the heads would be chopped off and piled up and then the deer would be skinned and the meat would be grilled for festival-goers. That's a little messed up if you ask me.  Not only is it immoral, it is a waste of a valuable resource. There is no way that all the deer meat would be eaten, nor could it all be frozen for future use. Also, with that many deer in close proximity, disease would spread like a cold in a kindergarten classroom. The same thing happens with snakes. Salmonella is easily transmitted between snakes, getting people sick when they come into contact with the snakes. 

That looks comfortable. Oh, did I mention they freeze these guys for two hours in order to sew their mouths shut? (kimberlygerson.com)

As you can see, there are many things wrong with Rattlesnake Roundups. Rattlesnakes could be used commercially if only there were management practices in place. I would love to have a rattlesnake skin, as long as it was harvested in an ethical and sustainable manner. These snakes are not collected in an ethical or sustainable manner. It might as well be genocide. 

So if you watch this show, please stop. There's no need to encourage these idiots or the practice of harvesting any animal unchecked. 

For those of you that are anti-hunting altogether, keep in mind that revenue generated from hunting equipment and licenses is used to fund Wildlife Refuges, Fish and Wildlife Areas, and Wildlife Management Areas. Please support the practice of regulated hunting and proper management of the species that are being hunted. It is the American Naturalist's greatest asset to protecting and preserving wildlife. 

Why you would wanna do anything besides snuggle with that thing is beyond me.