Call to ban US’s rattlesnake round-ups

February 2011: Opposition to the annual rattlesnake roundups in America is gathering pace, amid renewed calls for the events to be banned.

CALL FOR A BAN: Rattlesnake roundups should be stopped says the Center for Biological Diversity

The roundups see hunters bring in as many snakes as they catch in a year to be milked for venom, butchered and then sold for meat and skin. Two roundups take place each year in Georgia, one in Whigham in January, the second in Claxton in March.

Now the Tucson-based Center for Biological Diversity has sent a letter was sent to the sheriffs of Grady and Evans counties and to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources reminding them that

Georgia state law requires that a wildlife exhibition permit be obtained from the Department of Natural Resources before wildlife is publicly displayed. A further law states that wildlife cannot be brought into the state without obtaining an importation permit. The letter asks that appropriate law-enforcement measures be taken before and during the roundups to ensure the events comply with the law.

Rattlesnakes are being pushed to edge of extinction
‘We are concerned that the rattlesnake roundups may be violating state wildlife laws, and we urge law-enforcement officials to take action to enforce those laws,' said Tierra Curry, a biologist at the centre. ‘It is time to end rattlesnake roundups.'

A recently published study shows that rattlesnake roundups have depleted populations of eastern diamondback rattlesnakes in the southeastern United States: this once-common species is being pushed toward extinction by hunting pressure, habitat loss and road mortality. The snake hasn't been seen in Louisiana since 1980, and is now uncommon throughout its range in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi and the Carolinas.

Hunters caught pouring ammonia in tortoise burrows
In response to dwindling rattlesnake populations, public pressure and environmental concerns, the town of Fitzgerald replaced its rattlesnake roundup with a wild chicken festival, which organisers report has been an enormous success.

‘All rattlesnake roundups should be replaced with festivals celebrating wildlife and offering educational programmes on the importance of saving native species,' said Dr Bruce Means, author of the recent study and executive director of the Coastal Plains Institute and Land Conservancy.

Last January the centre and allies called on Georgia Govenor Sonny Perdue to amend state law to ban rattlesnake roundups and to work with communities to replace the roundups with wildlife festivals.

The centre has also urged the state to investigate the extent of gassing and destruction of gopher tortoise burrows to collect snakes for rattlesnake roundups. Though the practice is illegal, hunters commonly catch snakes by pouring gasoline or ammonia into burrows or by digging out the burrows. In January last year, four men were apprehended pouring gasoline into tortoise burrows before the Whigham roundup. Pouring gasoline into burrows sickens or kills the animals inside and makes the burrows unusable for tortoises and the hundreds of other wildlife species that use them.

‘Rattlesnakes are an important part of the web of life that help control rodent populations,' said Jim Ries, community director at One More Generation. ‘Roundups are harmful to the healthy environment on which we all depend, and must be banned.'