May 22, 2014

A Blanket of Stupidity Has Descended on Our County, Part 1

This is not a rattlesnake (Wikimedia Commons).
For an appetizer, consider this post from a Facebook page for residents of my little mountain county:
It's that time of year...rattlers are coming out of hibernation. Wherever you are please be watchfull. Listen to your pets, they know when something isn't right. My dog had this one pinned out in our yard this afternoon. She didn't go near it, but new [sic] it wasn't right. 
(Warn Uncle Joe, cuz he's a-moving kind of slow.)

The attached photo was a picture of a bullsnake, non-venomous and not a threat unless you are a mouse.

Although they have no rattles, bullsnakes will vibrate their tails as a threat display. This produces such reactions from Homo sapiens as this from the same Facebook post:
All Rattlesnakes I see gets to meet my 44 mag with snakeshot. I always like to say hi.
Thanks for sharing, Dave E.

There is more.

2 comments:

Chad Love said...

Oh, boy, don't get me started on snake prejudice, snake mis-identification, and snake stupidity. When I was at F&S I did a blog post on the cretinous behavior macho outdoorsmen exhibit toward snakes (especially venomous snakes) and how ridiculous it was.

I may as well have self-immolated myself. Got barbecued in the comments by the self-professed protectors of humanity against those evil serpents...

Chas S. Clifton said...

Chad, I bet you were barbequed by everyone itching to use his .44 Magnum on a snake.

At least on this Facebook page, a couple of other people besides myself jumped in to say, "That's a bullsnake, don't kill it."