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WALB (Albany, Georgia) 28 January 05 Rattlers invade Whigham (Stephen Ryan)
Whigham: The 45-th annual Rattlesnake Roundup kicks-off at 8 AM in Whigham. Everyone is welcome, but not everyone supports it.
They're heeeeere. Hundreds of large, poisonous rattlesnakes will be displayed tomorrow in Whigham. The show is organized by the Whigham Community Club. "Proceeds from this type of event reaches out largely to the community." says club president Dave Ulmer.
The final preparations for the roundup are still in the works. And with as many as 20-thousand people expected to turn out, a lot of money is expected to be raised. "Our goal will be around 40-thousand dollars. And we'll raise that much. Could even be a little more.", says Ulmer.
The rattlers will be displayed around a "snake ring" behind Plexiglass. There will even be someone on site to "milk" the snakes of their venom.
While rattlesnake roundup is a fund-raiser, not everyone supports it, including Chet Powell of the Department of Natural Resources. "Initially when this thing started there were a lot of eastern diamondback rattlesnakes in S. Ga. That's not true anymore.", he says.
Part of Powell's concern is how the snakes are hunted, especially during January, the coldest time of the year. They don't live above ground like they do in warmer weather. "The only way to get down there and get them is to gas them like they usually do, or dig them out, both of which are illegal.", he says.
Some snake hunters say they are having to go farther away to find diamondbacks. But Rattlesnake Roundup supporters say it helps develop a good community environment.
Is snake roundup still needed?
The 45th annual Rattlesnake Roundup kicks-off in Whigham. Everyone is welcome, but not everyone supports it, and are laws being broken to make it posible?
http://www.walb.com/Global/story.asp?S=2872602&nav=5kZQVjlo

NEWS JOURNAL (Daytona Beach, Florida) 28 January 05 Snake hunters to gather for annual roundup
Albany, Georgia (AP): Snake hunters plan to gather Saturday for the 45th annual Whigham Rattlesnake Roundup, a serpent spectacle that attracts thousands to rural southwest Georgia.
The event provokes venomous opposition from environmentalists and animal-rights groups who claim the roundups are cruel and threaten Georgia's eastern diamondback population.
Sponsored by the Whigham Community Club, the roundups are a major fund-raising event in Whigham, a town of 320 located near the Georgia-Florida line.
"Everyone has their own agenda," said club president Dave Ulmer. "Ours is just to support our community. Our intention is not to upset the ecosystem."
Hunters bring the slithering rattlers -- 320 last year -- to a snake ring, where they are weighed and measured and used in demonstrations. Prizes are awarded to the hunter with the most rattlesnakes and the one with the largest.
The events attract upward of 20,000 people, some from as far away as Atlanta and Tampa, Fla., who want to see rattlesnakes up close.
"If you face one eyeball to eyeball, there's a little fear," Ulmer said. "It creates an aura of excitement."
The snakes are eventually slaughtered for their hides, used to make outdoors apparel.
Georgia once had three rattlesnake roundups -- in Whigham, Claxton and Fitzgerald -- but under mounting opposition, sponsors of the Fitzgerald roundup dropped snakes and began hosting an annual chicken festival. Claxton's roundup will be held in March.
Environmentalists and animal-rights groups say the traditional roundups in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Alabama and Georgia promote animal cruelty and threaten snake populations.
"We think the public displays of the mistreatment of snakes reinforce the mistaken idea that snakes are worthless animals, when they are extremely valuable to the ecosystem," said Andrea Cimino, a coordinator with the Humane Society of the United States. "They are predators of rodents and other animals that humans may not like."
Snake hunters often use cruel methods, such as blowing gasoline fumes into the snake's winter burrows, to drive them out, she said.
While habitat loss is a major factor in the decline of snakes, "roundups certainly don't help," Cimino said.
Of particular concern in Georgia is the gassing of gopher tortoise burrows, havens for rattlesnakes and a wide range of other creatures. Gopher tortoises, the state's official reptile, are protected in Georgia, but not the rattlesnakes they bunk with.
Organizers of the Whigham roundup discourage gassing, but have no control over the methods used by hunters, Ulmer said.
Wildlife biologists acknowledge that there are no studies showing the impact of roundups on snake populations, but they are concerned about rattlesnake declines, and the Humane Society has called for a long-term strategies to preserve the snakes.
For example, the timber rattler, featured on one of the country's earliest flags with the motto "Don't Tread on Me," is already listed as endangered or threatened in several states, but it has no federal protection.
Thomas Floyd, a reptile biologist with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, said he'd like to see organizers of Georgia's rattlesnake roundups switch to fund-raising events that promote a better image of snakes and other natural resources.
"The public is getting a message that snakes are bad and need to be eradicated," he said. "It's clearly not to the advantage of the species' ultimate conservation."
http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/News/Enviro/03EnviroENV03012805.htm

DECATUR DAILY (Alabama) 31 January 05 Rattlesnake rodeos causing too much harm to continue
Whigham, Ga., a town of about 320 people near the Florida line, staged a rattlesnake rodeo Saturday for the 45th year, an event that attracts thousands and raises money for charity.
Despite the amusement it provides those who attend and the money it raises, it should be stopped. The people of Whigham should find another way to raise money.
It's not because rattlesnakes are high on most people's list of desirable creatures. For the majority, the only good rattlesnake is a dead one.
With that said, it should be pointed out that rattlesnakes do a lot of good, killing rats and other pests that make our lives miserable. But during these rodeos, the snakes aren't out slithering about. And that's where the concern comes.
Rattlesnakes tend to winter with gopher turtles in South Georgia and Florida, much of their habitat. A gopher turtle is usually in that same hole with the snake.
The turtle is protected in Georgia and Florida, and is Georgia's state reptile. Snake hunters often use a long hose to dribble gasoline down the hole. The snake crawls out and the turtle dies.
Although event sponsors discourage the gasoline method, they admit they have no control over the hunters. Last year, 350 rattlers were caught, so it's probably not far off to estimate that a large number of these protected turtles died.
Most of the larger rattlesnake rodeos have been canceled to help protect this turtle, but a few remain. Georgia once had three rodeos, but only this one remains.
Gopher turtles, known during the Great Depression as "Hoover chickens," a reference to President Hoover and to the fact that they were hunted for food then, are seeing much of their habitat destroyed by the ever-expanding use of land.
Because these rodeo events increase the threat to both the diamondback rattlesnake and the gopher turtle, they should cease.
Rattlesnake rodeos causing too much harm to continue