The virus has claimed several lives in the past few years in the desert regions of the southwest and the Great Basin. Each reported victim was exposed to dust from droppings containing the virus . Ryan nearly stepped on something VERY cool. Walking through the meadow with his fishing rod he looked down and saw a large gopher snake in the early stages of devouring a freshly dead ground hog-type animal. The meadow was dotted with hundreds of holes dug by what is obviously a large colony of these cute little creatures.
Snakes are smart enough to work the underground network at dinnertime.
We witnessed an amazing act of nature as we watched this snake swallow the critter. Unfortunately, our cameras were far away, and by the time we had collected them, the excitement was just about over. If you look closely you might be abl to see what's going on here. By this time the gopher snake had noticed us and was on its way back into the labyrinth. Jim Drysdale Click on the thumbnails below for 1024 x 768 images from this area.