BURNABY NEWS LEADER (British Columbia) 13 August 04 Changing minds about snakes
Gail Watson says he's been fascinated by snakes his whole life. He and his coral snake, Coral, will be at the Westcoast Society for Protection and Conservation of Reptiles' Pet Fair, this weekend at the Willingdon Heights Community Centre.
Snakes have pretty much been on the defensive in the eyes of public perception since, well, since the beginning.
"One lady who I carpooled with said she didn't like snakes because of the snake's roll in the Garden of Eden," said Gail Watson, as Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, urged on by a devilish snake.
Watson hasn't been campaigning that long to change the image of snakes, but he has worked hard at it for nearly 30 years, and he'll be an educator this weekend at the Willingdon Community Centre, for the Reptile and Extraordinary Animal Pet Fair.
Part exhibition, part sales, hundreds of visitors are expected to get a glimpse of snakes of all shapes and sizes, some as large as 12-foot pythons and 50 pound boa constrictors. There will also be a different array of lizards, including geckos, bearded dragons, monitors and iguanas.
The show is being put on by the Westcoast Society for the Protection and Conservation of Reptiles (WSPCR), an organization that has been around for more than 40 years.
Watson has been a treasurer in the group, but now dedicates his time to attending the shows and setting up an education booth, where his expertise is snakes.
It's a chance for guests can get over their fears of snakes, or at the very least, change their opinion of the slithery creature.
"People think they are slimy, but they are drier than we are, because they don't sweat," Watson said. "Some people are terrified that they sting with their tongue and they sting with their tails."
And some stories have gotten out of way out of control.
"A lot of people tell me that they don't like snakes because they swallow their babies for protection, or that they hypnotize people. Others have asked about the Ontario Hoop Snake, a snake that takes his tail and puts it in his mouth and rolls after people down a hill," said Watson, who's heard this outrageous story on a couple of occasions. "I've always wondered why people wouldn't just step aside and let it roll by and then run back up the hill away from it. There's no way it could roll up a hill after you."
The 71-year-old Watson was always intrigued by snakes as a child, but never owned one, because his mother was terrified of the creatures, even seeing them on television.
It wasn't until he was 40, when he moved from Calgary to North Vancouver, that he owned his first snake.
"They were clearing trees and brush near our subdivision, and a bunch of garter snakes were on the road," Watson said. "So we picked them up and put them in a cage."
He eventually traded in the garter snakes for constrictors, and now owns eight snakes, some he purchased and others that have been picked up through the SPCA.
Among them are a bright orange Corn Snake he calls Coral, and a Bull Snake named Toro. But Lower Mainland residents will most likely see the simple garter snakes in their community. And Watson urges residents to not fear or feel the need to remove the snakes.
"The carpool lady came told me once how she had 20 garter snakes killed in her yard, and then she kept complaining how slugs were eating her flowers," he said. "She would never admit the correlation."
As some proof to show that the snakes were keeping the woman's garden slug-free, Watson collected 500 slugs in an ice cream pail, and 33 snakes consumed every one of the slugs in one evening.
"We just want to tell people don't kill them, and don't kill their habitat. Leave some acreage in your yard partly wild, whether it be foliage, rock piles or rock walls," he said. "Snakes will go out and get food, come back and digest it for a week or two. It's not like they cruise around all the time. And they have enough trouble avoiding other predators - but humans are the worst."
While there are no figures that can back up that his work in educating the public has changed perceptions, he does know that people that come to the shows are mostly there to see snakes because it terrifies them, and that changes when they get a chance to hold a snake, and settle some of their fears.
"There have been thousands of people that have come along to these shows that have never seen a live snake in their lives, and their hands are shaking," he said. "But once they touch one, and hold one, they change immediately. This happens hundreds of times a year. Their understanding changes."
The show runs from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
Changing minds about snakes