Snakes!

[Guest guest]

There are few animals as feared and as hated as the snake. Many

campers and summer tourists fear encountering snakes during the

summer months. Others dread seeing them in their residential yards

or gardens. Some people hate snakes so much that they will kill them

on sight when they are encountered. However, people truly have

nothing to fear from these gentle and misunderstood animals. Snakes

are very shy, timid, secretive, and generally docile creatures that

try to avoid conflict when ever possible. Snakes will not make

unprovoked attacks on people. When a person comes in contact with a

snake, the snakes' first instinct will be to rapidly flee the area

and find shelter. If the snake doesn't't do this, it may just stay

perfectly still to try and blend in with the surroundings. If the

snake is captured it may still not resort to biting; proof of its

gentle demeanor. The snake has a number of other tactics it can

resort to as an alternative to biting. The snake may hiss, make mock

strikes with a closed mouth, or flail around.

Snakes bites on humans usually only happen when someone is severely

agitating and harassing the snake either when cornering it or

provoking it. Almost 80% of snake bites on people happen when

someone is trying to capture or kill the snake. All these facts show

that snakes are not aggressive or evil animals. If you provoke and

capture a wild animal, what can you expect except to be bitten since

the animal is going to try and defend itself? Looking a things

perceptively, if you went and grabbed a 'cute and cuddly' little

squirrel off a tree it would certainly bite and scratch you. Snakes

are no different. If you leave the snake alone it is almost

impossible to be hurt by one!

The other percent of people bitten are those who may accidentally

step on a snake in the wild. This too can be easily avoided if care

is taking to be as aware as possible when hiking in natural areas

and to carefully watch your step. Even if a person is bitten by the

snake; in the case of non-venomous snakes the bite is nothing more

then a few puncture wounds that rarely requires any more then a

disinfectant. When a venomous snake bites a person there is a good

chance that the snake didn't't even inject venom. Snakes have venom

first and foremost to subdue there prey, since they don't have arms

to hold on to it, a means of subduing prey is necessary. The venom

also helps the snake digest its meal. When the venom is injected it

helps to break the prey down for the snake since snakes don't chew

there food, but swallow it whole. We are too big for snakes to eat

so the snakes will not want to waste their venom on biting us. Even

if the snake does inject venom, proper medical treatment and anti-

venom can usually save the persons life.

Only about 0.2% of people bitten by snakes in United States die from

the bite. Of this small number of deaths 90% are due to shock, not

the actual bite. Similar stats apply to Australia which is home to

over 60 kinds of potently venomous snakes. It is estimated to be

even less in Europe. As said before, these bites could have easily

been avoided. If you do encounter a snake just walk around it and

leave it alone, it will not harm you in anyway. If you have a

venomous snake living in your yard you can have it relocated by an

animal control agency or local humane society. {the snake may leave}

The snakes do not need to be needlessly killed! It is very easy to

co-exist with these reptiles; snakes should also not be viewed as

our enemies but our friends.

Snakes do many useful things for people. First off snakes are great

controllers of rodents like rats and mice. Without snakes rodents

and some insect populations would sky-rockets and these creatures

would destroy crops, effecting our food industries and costing us

millions of dollars. Rodents also spread diseases which could

seriously affect our health. Snakes are great at hunting rodents

because they can crawl into small burrows and other areas that

rodents use as shelters. These places are too small for other

animals to get into. Secondly snakes are saving the lives of

millions of people every year. Snake venom is being used in the

medical field to treat all sorts of aliments like heart & stroke

disease, cancer, Parkinson's, blood clots, and more. Heart and

stroke disease alone kills around 16 million people every year. So

snakes are helping to make medicine that could save millions.

Despite this countless snakes are brutally killed every year by

people! There are now over 60 species of snake listed on the World

Conservation Union's Red List of Threatened Species.

We must look past our fear and ignorance and see snakes for what

they really are, interesting creatures that play very important

roles in the eco-system. Snakes are also stunningly beautiful

animals that come in an astounding array of gorgeous colors and

exquisite patterns. A fear of snakes is inherent, so we must learn

not to pass our irrational fears on to our children. It is an awful

thing to live in fear. When we look past our fears we can then see

the snake as a friend, not a fiend. I hope everyone that reads this

will take the time to pass it along to others. Snakes have no voice

in which to speak. This makes it important for those who do care to

stand up and speak for those who can not do it for themselves! Let

others know how the snake is our friend, not a fiend!

 

For information on How You Can Help Snakes please see:

Http://www.savethesnakes101.co.nr