This is a horrible practice which absolutely should not be permitted in this day and age. It involves cruelty to animals on a large scale, encourages ongoing habitat destruction, and reduces the numbers of a species that ISN'T being well-tracked. Rattlesnakes aren't so prolific that they can withstand this type of continuous hunting pressure. Removing such an important predator from the environment raises the rodent population...and rodents certainly do kill people. In that area, they carry Hantavirus.
The rodents our snakes eat are domesticated animals that are raised for this purpose. They are livestock, not wildlife.
I have no problems if people want to raise rattlesnakes in captivity, and put on a big show with them that way...except that they won't, because it takes years to grow a rattlesnake to maturity, and it would be too expensive, see...
It's not ban/hunting, by the way. They're completely separate issues. I have no problem with hunting Burms in the Everglades, and turning them into boots. They don't belong there.
I have big problems with them decimating the native rattlesnake species in Texas to make boots and torture the poor animals.
Reply With Quote