Rattlesnake Roundups Should Be Banned: Change My Mind

Crafty to favor unconditional legal prescription for these reptiles, as I can see no reason, personally, to kill one. I live in Utah, where the Great Basin rattler (Crotalus viridis lutosus), a Western subspecies, is reasonably common and occasionally seen enjoying sunshine atop rocks in the cool of the day. With skill, binoculars aid observation of rattlers sunning many yards off the trail. In defense of critter, my first-round links (bottom) simply describe them, describe the medical consequences of their bites, and give related safety tips. Although they are dangerous only at close ranges of 1 to 3 feet depending on body length, make no mistake: I'm arguing the Con position against a total ban on hunting rattlesnakes. Instead, I believe this activity should be closely regulated by wildlife departments, with killing of endangered rattler species prohibited but seasonal or situational hunts and roundups allowed for other species under a permit system. Of course we recall that all wildlife in National Parks is protected, a status I do not favor changing. The Great Basin and Mojave (Crotalus scutulatus) rattlers currently belong to the "least concern" conservation category, meaning they'll likely stick around for generations to come. The two snakes I mentioned are protected in Utah as non-consumptive game, a legal status which should be continued. As dry climates back of the Rocky Mountains won't support dense populations of any kind of snake, much less one that preys on mammals, I foresee no need for roundups in my home state—we'll have to import our rattler steaks from Texas and I'll forego that food item at the prices prevailing. By the way, we're dealing with an elusive vertebrate. I've bumped into just a single live rattler directly in my path on hikes since 1991 despite having witnessed dozens of tracks and cast-off skins, or snakes going Tropicana through binocs. However, the roundup scene in plains states east of the Rockies may be different. Here's why:More rainfall means more snakes; more railroads mean more pastures, feedlots, horses and farm animals all at more chance of getting bit than a human is. I wear high-top boots in snake country, but Mr. Ed, the talking TV horse from the 1950s, does not. Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri and Illinois in particular have a lot of cows running around with those bare legs in the shortgrass where, even given livestock"s wariness of snakes, cryptic coloration and motionlessness render rattlers difficult to spot before they're stepped on. "Shortgrass" is a bit of a misnomer because if not the 8 feet of tallgrass, such brush is plenty high enough to conceal a coiled hazard. I now plan to dispute one of Pro's round 1 claims and the premise he derives from a second claim. As he says, despite 7000+ biting incidents each year, the USA no longer sees many fatalities, usually fewer than 5. You're more likely to die falling out of bed. But death's not the sole concern. Venomous snake bites are painful. They can damage nerves in the affected limb, compromising future use of that limb or quality of life post-treatment or both, or lead to amputation. Hospital bills can soar to six figures, a nasty debt obligation even if one's insured at >70% of costs. Outright livestock losses from bites run at low levels, but the animals' defensiveness costs them calories they could use to grow fatter. If a horse does get bit and the wound turns out envenomed, it will have to be put down in a tragedy for its owner. Unfortunately, few studies on snakebite incidence and sequelae have been done. A highly-esteemed paper from the 1960s, which has a primer on snake identification as well, circulates on the National Institutes of Health web site today (NCBI link below). About 1800 victims were referred for inpatient stays in 1959. Hospital treatment, based mainly on antivenin and supportive care, hasn't changed much since then, but first aid has: In 2018, tourniquets and incisions for sucking venom at the wound site are verboten; the priority to get the victim to a hospital quickly, keeping him or her as calm as possible en route. One thing we do know, however, is that bites are on the rise lately, by copperheads, up 137% between 2000 and 2013 (CBS News, link below). Roundups, contra Pro's advice, are not undertaken with the purpose of extirpating rattlers. They merely aim to control populations in states like Arkansas where massive dens ensure concentration of snakes in certain local areas. Under state license, roundups could be authorized one at a time where problems crop up. Hunts provide recreation and pleasurable food, remembered by snakeskin items including boots, quivers for arrows, and mounted trophies on walls. States will limit the harvest by issuing a tag for every rattler killed. Anti-wasting laws will punish those who, even with tags or roundup allotment in hand, throw rattler carcasses on the ground to rot. I doubt this practice too frequent, the effort required to find that snake placing value on its remains: pride, something to eat, something to wear, ribs to embroider into a buckskin jacket, a skull to display behind glass. Pro has acknowledged this. Should we impose our values on other citizens in a free country anyway? I'm not a hunter, much preferring tough cowhide for my own sorry cadaver-to-be to be shod. I've never taken a wild animal"s life. But I do eat meat. While chewing, I suddenly realize that values legitimately become social norms or mores when harm to human beings, or to society as a whole, would result from their violation. We have laws against murder, child abuse, willful environmental pollution, all grave insults to humanity or to human, plant and animal habitat, the animals, including game, being necessaries to our well-being. I support such laws. But not an absolute ban on rattlesnake kills. In general, I concur with the bulk of Pro’s narrative outside the two major claims I objected to. Particularly regarding its non-aggressive nature and rodent control services we can see the pit viper as friend. Yet severe policies such as catch and release aren’t warranted for most rattler species. I don’t know how Eastern diamondbacks are faring, but Westerns are doing fine, and timber rattlers or canebrakes are the most common species on the Piedmont, more oft encountered by children in shorts and sneakers that don’t shield them from the strike. Whether states ought to countenance gasoline on regulated hunts is doubtful amid forest fire risk, but CO2 can be used to clear a den. As for Pro's lurid strawman of kiddie handprints in snake blood, I demur. Watch Moustapha Akkad"s Halloween II (Universal Pictures, 1981) for your fill of gore and flames. Given research will take me a day or two (that brief, 48-hour deadline worries me), I'll post fuller citation for my previous paragraphs' arguments in round 2, where I must also rebut any counterarguments Pro has advanced by then. Round 3 will of course present the wrap-up and conclusion. Now I invite Pro to show why my position on rattlesnakes is unreasonable. Great Basin Rattlesnake (Crotalus viridis lutosus)Bryce Canyon National ParkNat'l Park Service. https://www.nps.gov...Incidence of Treated Snakebites in the United States(The number of patients treated, 1,812, is on p. 271)Henry ParrishPublic Health Reports 81(3), March 1966NCBI. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov...Snakebites are on the RiseDon RaufCBS News, October 20, 2016. https://www.cbsnews.com...Rattlesnake safety tipsWildlife NewsUtah Division of Wildlife Resources, June 16, 2017. https://wildlife.utah.gov...