KVOA (Tucson, Arizona) 01 April 08 Residents frustrated over rattlesnake relocation policy (David Marino)

With temperatures warming up in the Old Pueblo, rattlesnakes once again slither out of hiding.

In the Tanque Verde area, Rural Metro fire is responsible for removing and relocating the rattlesnakes whenever they get a call.

But residents living near Houghton and Prince say some of those snakes are being moved to their neck of the woods, causing a big headache.

Jim Gaul says he's stumbled upon several rattlesnakes on his property.

"I had one in my workshop that was staring me right in the face."

Gaul adds, "When they pick up a snake and drop it in our neighborhood they're introducing problem snakes; they're disoriented and they're scared."

His kids have even found them hiding in the hen house.

Kendall Gaul says, "There was a baby rattlesnake... We didn't see it. We walked right past it and then it was blocking the door."

The rattlesnake problem isn't confined to Jim's property. His neighbors have also had their own encounters.

Leslie Holz lost her daughter's pony to a snake bite. "They need to find a spot where they can dump these where there are not kids or pets."

Rural Metro is in charge of removing rattle snakes in the area. But officials say they can only re-locate a rattle snake up to two miles from where it was found.

Rural Metro's Anne-Marie Braswell says, "If you remove the snake and take it too far away from where you found it, we've been told by reptile experts, that the snake will die."

Reptile expert Jude McNally is with the University of Arizona. He conducted a study on rattlesnakes a few years back.

McNally says, "More than half of the snakes died in the first two years if they were relocated greater than two miles away from where they were picked up."

Although residents say they understand Rural Metro has a protocol to follow, they worry that the rattlesnakes will keep slithering their way back onto their property.

Rural Metro officials say they release the rattlesnakes in unpopulated areas and never try to put residents in harms way.
Residents frustrated over rattlesnake relocation policy

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