The Massachusetts Department of Fisheries and Wildlife wants to establish a breeding population of timber rattlesnakes on an island in the middle of the Quabbin Reservoir in central Massachusetts, to help the endangered species. The Globe reports that some locals are less than enthusiastic about the idea.
Timber rattlers are the only poisonous snake in New Hampshire (except the occasional escaped pet from idiots who keep exotic reptiles as some sort of proof of courage) but they’re so rare that the N.H. Fish and Game won’t say where they are, for fear visitors will capture and/or scare them too much. The Globe reports that Massachusetts has similar concerns: “The whole point of putting them on an island is to protect the snakes from people, not the other way around.”
Can’t snakes swim? One of the reasons I don’t mind hiking in MA, ME, or NH is that there are very few things that will potentially kill you (#1 being stupidity of course!). Knowing I don’t need to concern myself with stepping over a log gives me some peace of mind. I know that the odds of ever being bitten by a snake are extremely low, but there is that uneasy factor…
Don’t like it. Sooner or later, someone will get the bright idea to put them somewhere in NH. Then it will be wolves and mountain lions. Imagine if a child dies from such messing with our environment. Our natural habitat has adapted, leave it be.
They already are in New Hampshire, although in very small numbers.
They’re already in NH. If you don’t like Lyme Disease, you’d want more of them around.
Yup, that’s a timber. Great photo, and I’m glad at least one person has a good attitude about this.