Alien Snakes

 Some time back I  bought a small ranch in south Texas.  Lots of snakes. Killing ‘em when I met ‘em. Hanging their carcasses on the fence.

Visit from an old friend, from my college days.

I hold him in great respect, for he is more intelligent than I — and certainly more in tune with nature.

Indignant that I should wantonly kill so many of God’s creatures, he implored me to quit killing the snakes.

“But some of them are poisonous — dangerous.” I replied.

“Then learn to identify the poisonous snakes, and spare the non-poisonous.” He was insistent.

Did. Learned to identify the ubiquitous rattlesnakes, copperheads under the oak trees, water moccasins down by the tank, and the rare and beautiful coral snake.

Removed them from my ranch, welcomed all others.

Made my friend happy.

Until recently. 

I learned that many people with more money than sense were buying poisonous exotic ( read foreign) snakes, imported by pet stores, and unfortunately — and presumably unintentionally — releasing them.

And the snakes adapt. And propagate. And some are dead ringers for some of our non-poisonous snakes.

A specific example: there is a native Texas snake, species unknown to me, a slender green snake, about a foot long, harmless  ... in 1950 I had one which entertained me by crawling into and out of my shirt.   

That was okay until it made an appearance while I was in the kitchen, standing near my Mother. Well, all three of us survived. But I didn’t take the snake into the house again.

Now I have information (isn’t the internet wonderful?) that a certain exotic, identical in appearance to my playmate of years long since, has been released and established itself in the wild, —  is propagating across the Gulf coast ... and is deadly poisonous!

The snakes were imported by a dealer in Florida, and eagerly purchased by lunatics who value the possession of a deadly snake. 

I won’t comment on that mentality — but it certainly is regrettable that the snake is now loose in the United States. A utility worker in Florida was bitten by one, with serious result.

About 20 years ago a COBRA escaped into the wild in Alabama. Not recovered.

How many other exotics are out there —  and may be indistinguishable from our native non-poisonous varieties?

So now, I’m back to killing any snake that I encounter on my ranch.

 Certainly we should, as the Donald suggests, prohibit the importation of foreign snakes. 

But there remains a concern for those already in our country.  And until there is a valid LITMUS TEST to identify those that are dangerous, all snakes must be regarded as potentially dangerous.