CORDOVA APPEAL (Memphis, Tennessee) 05 June 05 Snakes battle it out on camera (Larry Rea)

First, be aware that this is a story about snakes.

Notice we said snakes.

Two snakes, in fact, will be the focus of this story. One's a copperhead; the other's a king snake.

Talk about your one-on-one battles. This one was a doozy and Taylor Clark got it all on film. That, in itself, makes the story even more amazing, according to Dave Gabbard, a 20-year-plus veteran of the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency based at the Region 1 office in Jackson.

"It's not unusual for something like this (snake fights) to happen," said Gabbard, a former Memphian who grew up in Frayser. "But what's so amazing is that in all of my years with the agency I can remember only once or twice that somebody actually captured it on film. You just don't get many chances to see something like that happen."

Clark and his wife, Sandi, got one of those rare chances . . . they'd just as soon not have to see it again.

"The more we watched, the more fascinating it became," said Clark, 50, a State Farm claims adjuster."

The Clarks live in Countrywood in Cordova in an area that has a large field that backs up to Germantown Parkway.

They discovered the snakes while Clark was doing some late-afternoon weed-eating near a blackberry bush in their backyard. He walked up on the two snakes as they "balled up" in a fight. Like a good nature lover, Clark went for his camera instead of an object to kill the snakes.

"I guess the king snake was about 5 feet long," Clark said. "The copperhead was at least 2 feet long."

Right off, Clark knew the king was getting the advantage in the battle that lasted an amazing 90 minutes.

Photo : A king snake enjoys a meal after about 90 minutes of hard work.

The king snake had the copperhead in its grip with its body and was also biting it.

All the while, Clark kept snapping pictures as the battle went on . . . and on . . . and on.

"What amazed me that even when the flash would go off they'd just keep right on fighting like they didn't have a clue I was anywhere around," Clark said.

During the battle the copperhead kept its mouth wide open as it continually tried to sink its fangs into the king snake. Finally, the king snake put a deadly grip on the copperhead and killed it.

And then, one gobble after another it began to devour the copperhead, all the while Clark kept his camera clicking.

Once it had finished its meal, the king snake slithered into the blackberry bushes.

"The king snake was just doing what it was supposed to do," Gabbard said. "That's why a lot of old-time farmers will tell you they want king snakes around. They'll eat all the poisonous snakes and things like mice and rats. I've heard of a king snake eating a cottonmouth snake."

That's one fight Clark doesn't want to see.

"It's something you hope to see once," he said with a laugh.

Five days after the snake fight, he found a king snake swimming in his backyard pool.

"I'm not sure if it was the same one or not," he said. "But we just let him go."

Taylor once would kill any snake that hung around his home. Not anymore. King snakes, as well they should be, are on his protected list.
Snakes battle it out on camera

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• TN Press: Snakes battle it out on camera - W von Papineäu, Sun Jun 5 07:57:28 2005