DAILY TEXAN (U of T, Austin, Texas) 05 February 08 Rattlers in the Rotunda - Sweetwater gets ready for its 50th annual Rattlesnake Roundup this March (Sarah Wilson)

Visitors' and workers' eyes were fixated on the rattling reptiles that slithered around the Capitol's rotunda Monday, but spectators kept their distance from the venomous creatures.

The Sweetwater Jaycees, a community group in Sweetwater, Texas, brought seven western diamondback rattlesnakes for three days of snake-handling demonstrations one month before their annual Rattlesnake Roundup. The 50th roundup will start in Sweetwater, which is about 200 miles west of Fort Worth, on March 6.

Jody Gray, vice president of the Jaycees, said the group is specially trained to handle and research the snakes and has been giving demonstrations at the Capitol for more than 30 years to educate Texas children.

Unlike other groups of snake handlers who put snakes in their mouths and intentionally provoke them, Jaycees do not engage in unsafe relationships with the reptiles.

"This is not a show, and we don't do anything unnatural with the snakes," he said. "This is a safety demonstration."

Riley Sawyers, president of the Sweetwater chapter of the Junior Chamber of Commerce, offered to wrap the snakes around children's necks and shoulders for photo opportunities, but only a few accepted.

Gray said a group of ranchers began the project in 1958 to manage the rattlesnake overpopulation that threatened their livestock. Fifty years later, locals still have to control rattlesnake presence in the area.

The Jaycees catch several thousand pounds of rattlesnakes every March, identify their genders, milk them, collect venom and give it to Texas universities for cancer and Alzheimer's disease research. All the biological data collected during the process is given to Texas Parks and Wildlife, Gray said.

The snakes are then slaughtered, and the skin, head, rattler and meat are sold worldwide, he said. The profits go to local schools and organizations like the Boy and Girl Scouts of America, the Special Olympics and the area children's advocacy center, according to the Rattlesnake Roundup Web site.

The Texas House recognized the Jaycees for their work within the Sweetwater community last year.

The roundup festival, parade, Miss Snake Charmer pageant and rattlesnake meat cook-off draws a crowd of about 45,000 people to Sweetwater, Gray said.

Sweetwater Jaycee snake safety expert David Sager gives 30- to 45-minute demonstrations throughout the year and during the roundup, and said the first thing he tells people is to stop and stand still if they encounter a rattlesnake.

Gray said human fear of snakes is natural, but people should learn to manage that fear to get out of the situation safely. Sager said people will be safe as long as they do not make any sudden movements, and a snake will not strike unless it is threatened or about to kill its prey.

Although the roundup occasionally draws controversy, Gray said data collected over the years shows Sweetwater rattlesnakes are the some of the healthiest in the region because of the yearly roundup and slaughter.
Rattlers in the Rotunda

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