WMAZ (Macon, Georgia) 20 August 10 Congressman Searches for Endangered Snake (Eleanor Lissitzyn)
Congressman Jack Kingston visited the Mopani Preserve in Telfair County Thursday to look for a rare and endangered snake, the Eastern Indigo.
Kingston says, before he wanted to work in Washington, he wanted to study reptiles. "It's golf for one guy, fly fishing for somebody else, it's snakes for me," said Kingston.
The preserve is part of a non-profit initiative called The Orianne Project, dedicated to saving the world's endangered reptiles. It's a mission Kingston agrees with. Kingston joked that he took time away from politics to hang out with another kind of snake. "They're so much more pleasant than the crowd in Washington," said Kingston.
He says the world Project Orianne is important to the snakes' survival. Kingston says,"We need to learn more about these species so we can know how to save them."
He says local, non-profit organizations play an important role in ecological preservation. "As the federal government's budget shrinks groups that can do stuff like this on a state and local level are really important to the environmental picture in general," said Kingston.
Though Kingston searched, and searched, the Indigo stayed true to its kind, and remained as slippery as a snake. They never found one Thursday.
Very little is known about the Eastern Indigo, but it's one of the largest native North American snakes. It is a dark bluish-black, and can grow over eight feet long.
Part of the preserves efforts involve keeping track of the snakes, using a tracking system that allows the researchers to monitor their movements by tracking sensors implanted on the reptiles.
Project Orianne's Executive Director Chris Jenkins says, helping the snake to repopulate is crucial, "it's very important ecologically it's a top predator."
The adventure wasn't a total failure. Kingston got to take a look at some captive, poisonous snakes back at the preserves home-base.
The Congressman says he hopes to return to Mopani in the fall.
Congressman Searches for Endangered Snake