There’s a practice in the Southern and Southwest U.S. where
people bring in an insane amount of rattlesnakes, which are then killed for
their skin and meat. Certain species of rattlesnakes are very affected such as
the eastern diamondback. Their numbers are getting cut drastically. Rattlesnake
Roundups must go away.
Why are
some towns doing this? Well some towns hold roundup festivals to generate
revenue. Others are doing this because
they are scared of rattlesnakes. They
believe that roundups are okay to keep rattlesnake populations in check, which
is false. Also, some hunters claim they
are doing this to collect venom to help with medical research, which is also
not true because the way they kill the snakes is very unsanitary and unusable
to medical companies.
Roundup
organizers also harm other animals when collecting rattlesnakes. They pour
gasoline into tortoise burrows, harming many organisms that also live in these
burrows. So hopefully we can all agree that rattlesnake roundups are terrible.
What can we do to fix this?
Well
education is very important. Many mad myths about rattlesnakes including being
a serious danger to humans is one of the reasons why so many rattlesnakes are
skinned and slaughtered. Also, some organizations such as the Center for
Biological Diversity is using education and asking state governments to change
their policies. Also, the Center for Biological Diversity is encouraging towns
that do roundups to a wildlife festival instead and just display the animals to
show people that these animals are not killers. These towns have also generated more revenue
from becoming wildlife displays rather than killing the snakes.
There are
still many things that need to be done to protect the rattlesnakes. Roundups are still occurring and hosted in
certain parts of the United States. Hopefully, with more education and action,
we will see less of roudnups and an eventual end to the cruel treatments of
rattlesnakes.
Sources:
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/outlawing_rattlesnake_roundups/
https://www.rattlesnakeroundups.com
Google was used for images
2 comments:
Actual wildlife festivals have replaced rattlesnake roundups in some areas - I hope this positive trend will continue.
I think continuing traditions while adjusting them to be more humane and less problematic is a very important action in promoting conservation action. By slightly altering these roundups to celebrate instead of demonize rattlesnakes, we can preserve traditions while also preserving species.
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