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REPORTER-NEWS (Abilene, Texas) 28 March 06 Skin Deep - Reporter has nothing to hide as she skins a snake at the World's Largest Rattlesnake Round-Up (Blanca Cantu)
Sweetwater: Bugs, bats and all things slimy scare me.
That's why when I set foot into the Nolan County Coliseum a few weeks ago for the World's Largest Rattlesnake Round-Up, I was on edge knowing hundreds of riled-up rattlesnakes were slithering and hissing under the same roof.
No matter which snake pit you visited - whether it was the show pit, research pit or skinning pit - people stood around mesmerized at the nonchalant handling of the snakes by the well-known Sweetwater Jaycees. But I was so jumpy that when I saw a fly buzzing around in my peripheral vision, I jumped back and screamed aloud like an idiot.
So imagine my surprise when, as I stood behind the bloody pit walls watching other volunteers skinning headless snakes, Miss Snakecharmer contestant Cecilia Martinez asked me if I wanted to try skinning one myself.
I spent the next 20 minutes thinking about it and talking myself into doing it. Snake decapitator Cecil Villa said once you skin one, you'll want to do it again.
I didn't believe him, but I decided to be daring.
The first thing snake-skinners have to do is put on a one-piece, hazmat-looking jumpsuit. The one I was given was already splattered with blood.
Out of the handful of skinners lined up at the blood and gut counter, Enrique Figueroa stood out.
The ball cap-and-sunglass sporting Figueroa danced to Tejano music coming from his boom box as he stripped and gutted the scaly bodies one after another. When he grabbed a body out of the bucket and hung it upside down, I noticed he wasn't wearing any gloves.
''They get in the way,'' he said.
He was kind enough to initiate the slicing for me. Figueroa instructed me to place the tip of the blade just under the thin layer of skin and work your way up. If you cut too deep into the skin, you'll cut through the intestines and make a mess for yourself.
I made a clean cut. I didn't get too much blood on my hands. Believe it or not, the gross part was peeling the meat away from the skin.
Somehow, Figueroa nudged his thumb between the meat and the skin until his finger was exposed on the other side of the body. He let me pull the skin away. I gripped the wet - and still twitching - body and separated it from the skin.
Figueroa snipped the tail and we moved on to the next body.
I never thought I'd say this, but Villa was right. Skinning one snake wasn't enough.
Skin Deep

..... is the email of the good reporter who so enjoyed skinning snakes at the roundup (click the link, you will see it under the title of the piece).

Why not send her a (politely worded) email explaining he humanitarian implications of what she was doing, the impression of Texas and Texans it conveys to outsiders, and the role of rattlesnakes in their ecosystem. If enough people do, perhaps it will have some sort of impact...

Cheers,

WW
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WW Home

my .02

Somehow, Figueroa nudged his thumb between the meat and the skin until his finger was exposed on the other side of the body. He let me pull the skin away. I gripped the wet - and still twitching - body and separated it from the skin.

Figueroa snipped the tail and we moved on to the next body.

I never thought I'd say this, but Villa was right. Skinning one snake wasn't enough.

Ms. Cantu:

I am a biologist in California, I recently read, with great dissapointment, the article detailing your foray into the cruel and inhumane world of snake roundups. I wonder if you looked past the showmanship and hype to see the absolute destruction that this practice has on your native wildlife populations.

For example: did they discuss the gassing of burrows (not legal but still done)? This is done by pouring gasoline down animal burrows to force out the occupants, this indiscriminate practice is not unlike the gas chambers of old for it kills everything in the burrow; baby rabbits, birds, and other wildlife to name a few.

Decapitating an animal and then peeling its skin off is hardly a challenging hunt. I suppose the organizers of this event also told you that the venom would be used for scientific research? In reality the conditions under which these hunts operate and the manner in which they are conducted have NO scientific value what so ever, any collected venom is done strictly for the "Show", it is not collected under the proper conditions nor is it processed in a manner which makes it useful to researchers.

These events are organized and geared towards the less informed, who have a strong affinity for Budweiser, and who are easily duped into believing they are "helping" the environment and protecting their loved ones from rampant killer snakes that are taking over the country. The typical attendee is the type that likes to go to auto races with the hopes of seeing someone crash.

I am surprised to hear a woman take such pleasure in the slaughter of a living creature, snake or not, having your head cut off and then your skin peeled from your body is not a proper death for anything. They are already doing some of these same things to people in Iraq, why dont you write about that too?
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Cheers
Lateralis
"I would rather be precisely wrong than approximately right"
Marion "Doc" Ford