In my opinion, one of the main reasons snakes are treated that way is because they cannot scream in protest when their bodies are tortured alive, the way a puppy or kitten can when they feel physical pain. This leads some people to believe that snakes are heartless, and without any feelings (which reinforces what most people are taught by their fearful but well-intentioned parents)...Well, any of us who have given an antibiotic shot to a snake has seen them flinch, so we can obviously squash that myth right away. I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but I'm staging my point...
I've often thought it would be neat to make a CGI-animated short film, demonstrating a simulation of EXACTLY what happens at a rattlesnake roundup. Everything would be exactly accurate except
for one little change; we would substitute puppies for the rattlesnakes. People could see them strung up by the neck, taunted, tossed into a pit while landing on hundreds of other puppies, having their tails chopped off while still alive, defecating and urinating all over each other, skinned, decapitated in front of children, sprayed -- suffocating & sopping with gasoline, etc. etc. Hearing puppyies scream in agony and seeing them physically tortured would probably wake a few people up, don't you think.
Better yet, why don't the HCU hold a first annual Puppy Roundup?
Something like this would REALLY call some of those supporters, facilitators (whether by action or inaction), and legislators on their hypocrisy. And if it's legal with rattlesnakes, then why not puppies? Okay...of course, I say this somewhat in jest, but I think it would take this type of wake-up call to bring about change.
We can't win the world over with snakes. We know that.
Kids are taught from day one to fear and hate snakes. No matter how nicely we ask, people aren't going to care about snakes and start protecting them. So, we've got to approach the problem from a different mindset, a different angle, completely 180 degrees from where we instinctively would approach it.
Einstein said, "The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them."
So, unless every snake loses its teeth, grows long eyelashes, and purrs like a kitten -- we won't be able to bring about any real change trying to make people fall in love with snakes. Just my $0.02.
DR
