Rattlesnake Roundups

[JD@reptiles]

I saw that show. i was sick to my stomic whatching them empty hybernation dens and filling them with gas. i think if i went there. would go crazy and slap everyone and run away hehehe. or i would get a job at that snake n chip stand and poison all the food! meh that might be going to far!

[Thomas]

I've got a snake video with it on and it makes me sick. But theres this one guy who gets bitten by one whilst in the middle of killing a relative, and when I saw that happen I cheered.

>evil<

[Aqua_Elf]

Okay, I have read all of your responses and such forth and think that anyone that has never personaly been to one needs not comment. The docs you watch on T.V. make it for worse then it truly is. I'm not supporting it but its just not as badd you people make it seem.
1. they dont torture the animals, I've worked at them have frinds and family that work/run them.
2. eating them skinning them and what not else do with the dead bodies is no worse then eating meat, or wearing leather/fur.
3. the snakes are milked and their venom is used for antivenom making and medical research.
4. the whole point of the show is to educate people on saftey around the animals.
5. the thing has been going on for so long if it stopped there would be a horrible growth in the population of rattlers causing many mnore bites. I live in west texas where rattlers are a very real threat and danger. Despite what anyone sais they are the only agressive snake I know of and yes I do hvae first hand experince with this which is probly why I dont like them very much. I know what your all thinking" hes stupid its not the snakes fault its the humans"" bann him now" Well I know there are rules and such but trust me they dont help alot with the population as it is now I see at least one a day. They crawl into peoples yards, say their 2 year old palying in the yard come across a snake doest know what to do. KABOOM, bite the kid most likely dies becuase of age and the fact that theres only about 5-6 hospitails in wets texas that caryy antivenom not to mention the kid probly lives int he country and it takes to long to get him there. Rattlesnakes are considered badd here and they cause alot of problems, I'm not saying go kill them all and I'm deffinatly not supporting the rattlesnake roundup as I hate them and would like them shut down.[now] But alot of you are here saying its so horrible when you support thing much worse everday!!! Think about the mice and rats you feed your snakes and the people that feed live dont have a single right to post here!!! Bottom line rattlesnake roundups are badd but not as badd as some might think and serios thought would have to be taken before they are shutdown+ it would never happen in texas, at least not in the near future. I have almost been bitten, and several of my friends have been.

[Zoe]

Aqua - He was asking for our opinions, and we have a right to give them. Saying we can't give our opinions just because we haven't been to one isn't very open minded.

I too think they are awful.

1. So being stressed beyong belief isn't torture? How about those "grab the most rattlers in 30 seconds as you can and stuff them into a bag while a bunch of hicks watch and stamp their feet and yell and shout?" Being skinned alive? Or how about pinned down before having your head chopped off?

2. I have nothing against eating snakes, provided they are killed humanely. While I could never do it myself, it would be hipocritical for a non-vegan or non-vegetarian to be against eating snakes.

3. So? You don't have to pull them out of the wild, stress them, milk them, then chop their heads off.

4. The point of the show is to excite people, by seeing venomous snakes being handled (and later, killed).

5. Granted, the population cannot be allowed to increase to impossible numbers. But there are better ways of controling animal populations than this!

I have kept mice and do keep rats. I DONT breed my rats in the wild, go chase them and snatch them up, toss them around, show them to yelling kids and clapping adults, pin them down, grab them, skin them alive or decapitate them. No. My rodents live good, painfree lives before they are killed HUMANELY.

And rattlers don't seek out 2 year olds and bite them for the heck of it. A rattler doesn't think like "Hey! Theres an unsuspecting baby, I think I'm going to bite it." Heck no. If the kid grabs it or steps on it, THEN it will bite, and it's up to the parent to educate and supervise the kids. Anyone, anywhere could let a kid run around, the kid would go pet a nice doggy, and the dog could easily kill the kid. And we all know how many dogs exist in populated areas, and the fact that dogs kill WAY more people than snakes do.

Zoe


Thomas -- I hear ya! That's like me when I'm happy when matadores get gored. I just hate it that they rarely die, they deserve to.

[RachelS.]

I haven't really read this thread or any of the posts, but all I can say is I would never support any rattlesnake roundups!! We have them all over the state, and they are a very disturbing and disgusting site

[Aqua_Elf]

Have you been to one of these awful shows, all I said that if you havet been to one then you dont know what happens so you dont have a right to say their horrible you can say I've heard their horrible and these are my opnions based upon that but saying studd without knowing is not right. Also I hate the thing, and I hate the way the animals are collected but thats life, they are seldomly are skined alive. The point of the show is not to excite at all it is to educate they just dont do it right. Also they dont play a game where they stuff them in bags, IO have been to the biggest one in the states every year since I can remember and this never happens I also go to the one in the town I live in which is rather large and have never witnessed this. I know the ratlelrs dont hunt the kids but [even though science sais this is not true] I have seen and heard snakes not run from a predotor they turn and fight and and when it tries to back down the snake dont. I cant blame the snake for this that nature but its saying rattle snakes are mean!!! LIsten to this it is a tue story, I was nne I was playing at my granmas house int he yard I went to pick something up i did but when I drew back i saw something flash across my eyes then i heard rallting I knew what it was and reflexis made me jump back[I know the rule is to stay still but I couldt] then the snake struck again his teeth almost hit my lower knee I lived only because I jumped back I would have died becuase it would have taken hours and hours to get to a could hospital.

I live just north of El Paso, rattlesnakes are not bad in this area the very much do their share to control the rodent populations, the El Paso, Las Cruces, Tucson, and Phenoix (sp?) hospitals all carry antivenin with the only hard time really being during the switch from wyeth to crofab late last year and early this year to the best of my knowledge. Almost all evenomations occur with us in their territory and most even with children allow a wide time for treatment but with tissue damage increasing significantly the longer the delay. I think I've heard that more people are killed every year by donkeys than by Crots and I don't see any plexi paperweights with donkey heads in them or donkey hoof ashtrays. If you and your friends don't want to be bit stay the hell away from them. Round-ups are simple capitalism, you and your family making bucks without investing the capital to produce your own I breed both molossus and atrox, kind of like cattle rustling from the publics herd for simple greed. Do you have any idea what rattlers are protected species and how to indentify them, do all the collectors also know, are all the stupid destructive toxins you pour into the dens (permanantly desroying them) approved by the state and manufactures for the purpose your using them for. Is liquor banned at these events and among participants, or does the possibility of some drunk getting bit get ignored while we're supposed to swallow some whine about getting almost bit. Get off it, it's no better than the murder of baby seal for their fur by another bunch of money grubbers, do you have a real job? If so then you don't need the round-up money anyway.

[Aqua_Elf]

I live deeper into the state in the permian basin if you know where that is. I DO NOIT SUPPORT THE RATTLESNAKE ROUNDUP I just think you people need to give closer thought to the subject like I said doc make it really more worse then it is.

[Zoe]

Aqua - well you have fun attending the amazingly awesome rattler roundups which you claim to hate yet also claim to attend every year.

I've heard about them, seen videos of them, and I am allowed to comment on them. THATS the point of free speech. If I said "The moon in hot pink and its made out of horse feathers" would you agree with me, jsut because you actually haven't been to the moon yourself?

And YES, they do have timed rattler snake catching. While it may not happen at every single roundup (because you've been to so many, you'd know which have them and whihc don't. ) I've seen it being done. A couple broken snake backs, and the rest terrified. The guy got bit tho, YES!

I would never go to one of those. ever.

[Zoe]

So you're saying that what REALLY happens at these things, is they take a few different species of captive-bred rattlers, an experienced snake keeper shows them to an attentive student or snake-lover audience, telling them about the different kinds of snakes and why rattlers are treasures and should never be killed?

Zoe

not to mention 2 things, snakes released off of their home range have very low survival rates, and a rattler overload is impossible in the southwest the snakes natural prey does not exsist in large enough numbers to support any great increase in rattler population, if double the population of rattlers survive one years the number of prey surviving will in a large population reduce by that amount creating a vicious circle the keeps natural populations under control, mostly man and his accompaning animals like rats, cattle, cats, dogs, and many others that do and are expected to survive even when exceeding the lands ability to support them. GGGrrrr, deep calming breathes, OM Mani Pani lol

[Aqua_Elf]

I'm saying that I go to them becuase my family works them DUH!!! Yes, an experienced snake handler does show the handlers how to handle the snakes even though very few are even aloud to hold the snakes that are not membres of the show. The docs you see on T.V. are edited and make it worse then it really is If you dont beleive me I oblige you come visit me and Ill take you to one. I use to enjoy very much going to these things, now I hate them becuase of the deth of the animals. I never said they use CB snakes they get them from the wild. But when you get paid $60 a pound for rattlers, all the phycos go and get them selfs one. I also resewnt the hicks remarks very few hicks even attend these shows,

[Zoe]

And I resent you obligating me to go see innocent, beautiful creatures get slaughtered for the entertainment of fools.

If you hate them so much why are you defending one?

So it's havard graduates that attend these things? Heck no, it's families who know nothing about snakes and just like to see "them big poisonous fanged rattlers" getting slaughtered in such great number, after having been through awful, stressful ordeals.

Anyway, I don't think this is going anywhere so this'll be my last post (before I get real riled up). I doubt I'll change your mind, but I do find it very sad that you condone the slaughter of these snakes. Hopefully someday humanity will get past some cheap thrills.

[KrokadilyanGuy3]

Its all about the money...Also. Documetries show what's going on.. Edited or not it's what's going on there.. Simple as.

[Aqua_Elf]

NO but its no hicks like you say and maybe there been some harvard grads there how would you know youve never been. I'm defending it because people that dont even know whats going on are posting things that are'nt true and then go and eat a hamburger and put on their leather jacket!!! You are a hypocrit not saying I am not but I dont eat meat or wear leather. But high society reings over these roundups how do you think they have stayed up and running for so long? Politics are a horrible sport second only to boxing but that is a diffrient story. Why must we argue we both agree these things are horrible I just know a little more about the actual things that happen then you do which is obvios as to you've never been. If these games where people stuff snakes in bags to exist they are very rare and dont occur in big shows where the head honchoes are present they would never stand for it. THose shows on T.V. only show the supposed badd things about the shows and probly dont even show the actual presentation put on by the roundups to educate the public about safety. If you refuse to witnes thishorrible "injustice" then I dont think you should post about you just dont know what happening next time theres on in town I will record the ENTIRE thing and send a copy to you and I will show it on a site where every member can watch the whole show not just the "evil" part but the good part to and the educational part.