CONTRA COSTA TIMES (Walnut Creek, California) 10 November 08 'Relocator' on a mission to save snakes (Shelly Meron)
Jerry Boyer opens the top of a large freezer in his garage where he keeps frozen mice and rats in large Ziploc bags, next to frozen pizza, ice cream and chicken.
The Rodeo resident has more than just himself and his wife to feed. The couple keeps several dozen snakes — including rattlers — in white plastic bins in neat rows in the garage. The rattlesnakes include Western diamondbacks, sidewinders, speckled, Northern Pacific and Mojaves. Then there are nonpoisonous boas, pythons, garter, pine and king snakes.
Boyer, a garbage truck maintenance worker in San Francisco by day and a "snake relocator" in his spare time, captured most of the reptiles himself and removed them from homes, yards and garages in the area.
Under the direction of the Sonoma County Reptile Rescue, Boyer often is called by residents and fire departments when they encounter a rattlesnake in a residential area. Rather than see them killed, Boyer — on his own time and with his own money — answers the call. He often moves a snake to a less-populated area, and he keeps some for educational purposes.
"A lot of people charge for removal. I'd rather do it for safety and education," Boyer said. "I'd rather they call me than kill them."
Boyer, 46, said he was drawn to snakes at an early age. His first experience came when he was living in Senegal as a young boy, while his father was in the U.S. Army, and he encountered a green mamba. The family later moved to Virginia, where a third-grade Boyer first saw a snake killed.
"I saw a pine snake or something. A neighbor came and saw it, and killed it with an ax," Boyer recalled. "I was so upset that he did that, I shot a marble through his window."
From then on, Boyer slowly turned into an advocate for snakes, ignoring their poor reputation in popular culture and the Bible. He remembers being a middle-schooler in Pinole, learning from a farmer how to identify and handle snakes. As he grew older, Boyer continued looking for snakes in the hills near Rodeo and Pinole.
"People would see me hiking and looking around and ask what I'm doing. I'd say, 'I'm just looking for snakes,' and many times they'd tell me they get them in the back yard," he said.
Many of those encounters lead to calls for help, and Boyer said he or his wife, Denise, will drop what they're doing to go on a removal mission, often with nothing more than a snake hook and a bucket.
Boyer has been bitten twice by rattlesnakes, most recently in September. He said the work is risky, but someone has to stick up for the misunderstood creatures.
"I'm the advocate for them. Everybody else is against them," he said. "People don't realize they're an important part of the environment, that they keep pest numbers down, that they're unique to America. You wouldn't have a Western (film) without a rattlesnake, would you?"
Many bites occur when people try to pick up snakes, often while under the influence of alcohol, Boyer said.
Al Wolf, director of the Sonoma County Reptile Rescue, says people who don't like snakes typically have been taught to fear them. Education is key, he said, since many people don't know how to properly identify snakes or what their role in the ecosystem is, and they end up killing them.
"They're there for a reason," Wolf said. "If you start getting rid of rattlesnakes, something else takes its place, whether it's good or bad.
"So many people kill so many snakes that aren't rattle snakes. They're killing the really good snakes — gopher and garter and king snakes," which keep pest populations under control.
"It is potentially a deadly animal, and I do understand that some people want to kill them," Wolf added. "We try to show people that you don't have to kill it. There is a service here that will help you out."
As part of his education campaign, Boyer works regularly with a seventh-grade class at Pinole Middle School, teaching students about the reptiles. He brings a nonpoisonous snake to pass around the classroom, and a rattlesnake that is kept in its box, just for looking.
"There are always a few kids who are scared," he said. "But by the end of the class, after they see me and other kids handling them, everybody touches a snake. It's kind of neat."
'Relocator' on a mission to save snakes

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