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POST-GAZETTE (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) 05 February 06 Proposed regulations for snakes have received much attention (Deborah Weisberg)
The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission has received more responses to its planned overhaul of regulations affecting frogs, turtles and snakes than to any proposed change in trout fishing.
"It's record-breaking," said Chris Urban, a herpetologist and chief of the Fish Commission's natural diversity section. "We're up to about 1,500 letters and e-mails and they're still coming. The vast majority supported updating the regulations until snake hunters started weighing in. We knew it would be controversial."
The proposed package aims to protect 23 species of declining herptefauna, from box turtles to mud puppies. It would affect hobbyists and hunters, including those who take part in "rattlesnake roundups," where there are hunts for the longest snake and timed sacking events.
The Fish Commission first proposed the changes a year ago. At its recent quarterly meeting, the board voted to delay action until later this year, allowing for more public comment and more revisions. It has made several concessions to the snake hunting community -- even increasing hunting opportunities by proposing provisional permits that would allow for the catch and release of a snake at every hunt. As it is now, permit holders can "take" just one timber rattler a year, even for non-consumptive purposes.
The board also reduced the proposed first size limit on timber rattlers from 42 inches to 38 inches, although Urban said that would make it more difficult to protect breeder females. The commission plans to reduce the take of northern copperheads, another venomous native, from two a day to one a year.
Snake hunting in Pennsylvania has been on the increase, leveling off last year at 1,080 permits. About one-quarter went to out-of-state hunters, given that Pennsylvania is the only northern state that still allows the taking of native snakes, Urban said.
But while the number of hunters is up, the number of timber rattlers and copperheads is down, said Urban, who is heading up field studies to determine the status of both species, which have been badly impacted by sprawl, road development and over-collection, including poaching. Losses also occur when hunters release snakes away from the sites from which they were taken.
"Translocation studies show that 60-plus percent won't survive. Snakes don't adapt well to new environments," Urban said.
Snakes also can die when they are measured in competitions and stretched to the point that vertebrae are broken, Urban said. There are at least 10 organized hunts in Pennsylvania.
Groups such as the Humane Society of the United States are urging the Fish Commission to follow the lead of other states and make hunts illegal, especially given the timber rattlesnake's "candidate for threatened" status in Pennsylvania.
"No animal who is a candidate should be harassed and threatened for recreation or entertainment," said the Humane Society's Andrea Cimino.
She called sacking contests "inhumane," because snakes are roughly handled or imported from states where they are gassed or smoked out of their dens.
Though it has banned sacking of native snakes, the Fish Commission has no statutory authority over sacking of non-natives, and it could take public demand and an act of the legislature to see the practice outlawed. "It's a gray area for us, though we could use the argument that abusing snakes in front of a crowd perpetuates the negative image of snakes," Urban said.
Bill Willis, head of the Keystone Reptile Club, which runs "rattlesnake roundups" across Pennsylvania, said he is considering eliminating sacking events.
"I don't like to see anything banned, but liability issues are making it rough. And there are sacks where people mishandle the snakes," he said.
The Fish Commission is under intense pressure from rural communities that claim sacking events bring in tourism dollars and raise money for new fire trucks and other equipment.
And mustering widespread concern for snakes is "an uphill challenge," said Urban, who spends a lot of his time educating people.
"The thinking for so long was, 'The only good snake is a dead snake.' But timbers are these big charismatic creatures."
He added they are a critical part of the eco-system, helping to control populations of white-footed field mice, meadow voles, chipmunks and other rodents. As pit vipers, they have heat-seeking capability in their head to detect prey. And while they are fearsome to most humans, Urban said no one has ever been known to die in Pennsylvania as a result of a rattlesnake bite, although people have gotten sick.
About 40 percent of venomous snake bites are dry bites. "They're warnings," Urban said. "Snakes try to conserve their venom as much as possible."
Proposed regulations for snakes have received much attention

'"It's record-breaking," said Chris Urban, a herpetologist and chief of the Fish Commission's natural diversity section. "We're up to about 1,500 letters and e-mails and they're still coming. The vast majority supported updating the regulations until snake hunters started weighing in. We knew it would be controversial."'

WHY is the PAFBC saying this? We know that many hobbyists have written in complaining about the proposals. I saved my e-mail response from PAFBC when I sent in my thoughts. Did you save yours?

Katrina