I am happy to report that the Edmonson county Kentucky northern pine snake that Will and I found on June 11th is acclimating well to captivity and is now feeding on frozen/thawed rats. We also found out from our state herpetologist that the last living specimen from this isolate was found 37 years ago. In the past several weeks Will and I have been knocking on doors and meeting property owners looking for potential access to set funnel traps and to place AC in the area where the snake was found. Our goal is to collect a female from this locale and eventually to distribute captive bred offspring to educational facilities throughout the state to enhance public awareness of this snake. The discovery of this snake has already generated much interest here, and there is now much discussion on the possibility of trying to trap a pine snake in Mammoth Cave NP and doing a telemetry study. To us, this is all very exciting! We are thrilled that our friends at Ky DNR and the National Park service share our interest and hopefully soon the wheels will be in motion to find a candidate on secure property that we can track and learn from. In the meantime Will and I plan on continuing our efforts on private property to find a mate for the snake we now have. It took us four years and weekly visits to this area, not to mention much effort to find this snake. In the end though, it was well worth it and now that this snake has been found it proves they still exist. If there is a message in all this it is to pursue the old records and establish the possibility that the snakes are still there. Otherwise the unique character of the many isolates within the northern pine snakes range may soon be dilluted by reintroduction programs from other locales without sufficient data.
Phil
