Pssst: Southern rattlesnake roundups under pressure from ecologists to end hunts
By APWednesday, April 21, 2010
Pssst: Southern snake hunts pressured to change
OPP, Ala. — Rattlesnake roundups are an old Southern tradition, but conservation groups and biologists are pushing to bring an end to the events.
For 50 years, cities like the south Alabama town of Opp having been sending out snake hunters and staging festivals with the captured reptiles. Once there were about 50 snake roundups in the South, but only three are left — the one in Alabama and two in Georgia.
Environmentalists and reptile experts are pushing to end all the Southeastern roundups. They say Eastern diamondback populations are declining to dangerously low levels, partly because of the hunts.
Supporters of the events don’t believe the snakes are declining in number. They say they’ve been catching large numbers of rattlers for decades and plan to continue the tradition.
