It's because the world is full of morons and people fear snakes, why? They don't have enough sense to keep their minds open so they just automatically declare snakes trouble or evil or whatever the case may be.
About a week or so ago somebody posted a picture on facebook of a snake they killed, and wanted to know what kind it was. People shouldn't even comment unless they know what they're talking about, but people went from saying copper head, cotton mouth, corn snake, king snake and it was a harmless water snake. Then some people said: The best kind of snake, a dead snake. Which I replied to their comments: I hope your dog bites your face off. That was a bit off topic, but it was a point to my general census that people don't understand snakes.
Also it's not like a snake will chase you to bite you, but a dog can. Anyways, good luck with your search though.