I hate humans

[BWSmith]

I still find it hard to understand the mentallity behind things like this, but unfortunately, it is not uncommon. JuliusSqueezer and I found this beautiful Canebrake Rattler while road cruising this weekend. She had her head and rattle chopped off :(

http://www.reptileeducation.com/dor_cane.jpg

[LISA127]

I wholeheartedly agree! Too many animals suffer at the hands of humans. Be it cat, dog, or reptile. I will take the company of animals over the company of humans anyday!

I feel more animals suffer at the hands of humans than attack or bite humans. We could learn alot from our animal friends.

[Tim and Julie B]

That's just wrong! Please don't take offence to this but Americans (for the most part) don't seem very eco friendly. Especially when it comes to snakes. :( I don't know if it's lack of education about wild life, fear, or just a sad kind of tradition passed on through generations. That was such a beautiful snake too. Was the small trophy really that manly? Can you really brag and look cool about killing a snake? I guess it depends on your peers. Some people do suck though! :mad:

Wait is that the head in the top right? So they didn't even do it for a "trophy"? Just out of fear and anger. That is truely sad.:(
Tim

[Gregg M]

That is why I dont feel bad when stupid people get bit......

[Hamster of Borg]

I hardly would pin it in 'americans' - I remember my grandfather in NB slaughtering garter snakes because he swore up and down they were eating his chickens. It is simply ignorance, and ignorance is universal.

What I don't get is that poor canebrake looks very flat - did he get run over after the head chopping? Or did people do that too? I mean, how badly do you have to mutilate an animal? Its one thing to deliver a killing blow, its another to completely mangle it.

Snakes are like Rodney Dangerfield, they get no respect. :)

Ham

[raebug2000]

wow, that was a beautiful snake..........im sure it took a lot of guts to run over with the car...........

[Mason]

When I was about 6 at summer camp a few kids found a big praying mantis. Everyone gathered around it to get a look. Then a couple of them managed to get it in a ziplock lunch bag. they bashed it to death. That was the day I understood the coldhearted ignorance of mankind.

I'm Canadian, But I would say that Americans are better than most when it comes to forest burning, habitat destroying, snake belt wearing, exotic pet exporting, water polluting, reptile killing. You wanna talk uneducated, talk about the 3rd world muther ph$ckerz.

Get off America's d$k, the only reason you know about their attrocities is cause the media is allowed to broadcast it, and we live next door. More importantly they/we see these actions as a problem. Most of the world is too buisy worying about where their next meal is comming from, they don't care about wild life.

[Tim and Julie B]

I meant no offence to anyone. I am sure that no body on this forum would act like this. I just have met a lot of people from the states that couldn't care less about wildlife conservation. I was just wondering why that is from a socialogical point of view. I do agree that there are idiots everywhere. Maybe it's the higher population in the states that makes it seem like there are more idiots. But trust me I have run into a few in Canada as well. The best story I have heard lately was told to me by Annette or Nett on this forum. That her neighbors blam her for there being more garter snakes around because she keeps snakes. YA OK!


Mason: Hampster of Borg is American. And no one is more pro Canadian then I am. I do respect our Southern neighbors though. I am not just learning this from the media I have spent a lot of time in the states and have family down there. Although you brought up a good point out how media effects the opinion of the masses. Altough I would have phrased it better. Unforunatly Americans are perseived as non conservationists. This must anger a lot of Americans that are trying to change this perspective like BWSmith and Hampster of Borg. Remember just because our countries a so close together and very similar they are different countries with different views and beliefs. I agree that not everything is perfect with our relationship to each other. I for one think America takes Canada forgranted. But that is a whole different topic. But the positive far out way the negitives. We should be happy that we have the largest unprotected border without fear of war. How many countries would love to have that. You can be pro Canadian without being anti American. Please edit your post I would hated to see another member banned.

[unBOAlievable]

I see they left the head. Someone should tell them BAST#RDS you don't have to chop there heads off to get the rattles. They can just pluck them off and let the snake go.

OK im back in the real world now, but admit it it would have been fun to watch an idiot try to pluck off the rattles and get what they deserve.

This must have been a real rewarding kill, the adrenalin must have been pumping after running over turtles all day. You can almost feel the danger they felt in that 4x4.

My daughter just got home from camping and said she seen quite a few headless Agkistrodon p. next to the lake. What a waste. I am ashamed to be from the south but I promise we are not all like that.

Thanks B.W. for sharing this. Things like this sometimes put your priorities back in order and shows us where we need to focus our attention.

[wyz]

When I see stuff like that, I just think of what this snake had to go throught just to be able to live this big. Hiding, hunting, etc...

And we,,human, simply take a knife and kill this animal for fun of it in 2 seconds.

It's really discusting and the worst part, is that this is soooo frequent.

There's so much to say about this, but just writing about it makes me violent against my own, so better off stoping here.

WYZ

[Scales Zoo]

We have a few locals here with an inborn unjustified fear and hatred of snakes. One has a crown lease on a densite, and has frequently burned them out and filled the holes with dirt. He will run over them on his way to his "property" and leave them on the road for us to find. I am glad he is too afraid of them to mutilate them by hand. He also had the nerve to ask us if we had a shovel when he found us moving one off the road. I wish we had a shovel, we could have put it to use cleaning up the mess Ryan wanted to make of him at the moment. Humans can be disgustingly spiteful creatures, too bad those of us with fears of the wildlife in the area do not have the good sense to move to a more "suitable property" up north where there are no rattlers. I know of 2 people in particular who would be good stewards of that crown land, and provide refuge for the snakes.

I hope these guys come back to this world as RATS

Sheila

[JD@reptiles]

GOD DARN! that sucks so much. I HATE people who do that. IT PISSES ME OFF TO!. i cant believe somone would pull over and just cut its head off. thats so F$^@%**% wrong! All i have to say is, What an @$$HOLE!

[Matt]

You wanna talk uneducated, talk about the 3rd world muther phuckerz

Mason

1. I wanted to ask what you meant by this exactly. Im confused as to what this means and what it has to do with this topic?

2. Don't use language like this on the forums please, bad spelling counts as profanity too!

[KLG]

People suck. Just found out today that the local timber den that NH F&W was supposedly "protecting" got bulldozed recently, and there's been a big coverup going on. The lid is about to get blown off that can of worms...

Seeing that beautiful canebrake horribly mutilated at the hands of man only adds to the seething disgust I'm feeling right now.

K

[stormyva]

That is really sad, but what is sadder is that it really comes as no surprise to me.

[Mustangrde1]

Sigh, Unfortunately I see it all to often and the last time i saw it was incredable. It was obviously at the hands of drunken party hounds. I have also watched a person swirve to hit a Owl, luckily the owl lived , but will never fly again, I took it to a rehab center where now it lives a life of luxery educating people. At least one happy ending sorta. Wish it would have been able to return to nature where it belonged,

[marisa]

I think that's sick. Wrong. and Idiotic.

But at the same time I don't feel the whole "snake hating" world has feelings that are "unjustified".

Example: My boyfriends very very old grandmother was born in another country...she grew up killing snakes because they could kill you. They didn't have anti-venom and they didn't have doctors who you could be rushed too. The snakes literally were a nightmare-ish fear for them and their families if one was around. Nowadays we know that these snakes kill rodents that cause harm, stay out of our way if we stay out of theirs, and we have anti-venom and well trained doctors who are easily accesable.

But I would like to invite ANYONE to tell this woman not to have fear, and be successful, to a 90 year old woman who was raised knowing if she got bit, she would die. Period.

I don't feel she is stupid because of this, or cold hearted. Not everyone is a snake lover, and frankly not everyone is an "eco-lover" that is just the way it is. If that's ignorant or not who are we to say? We weren't raised in the early 1900's. You know what I mean? We can't push our beliefs on everyone and expect them to listen. Even if we are 100% right. (Which we are LOL)

I totally agree most people are stupid idiot jackasses who only want something cool like the head and rattle. But at the same time I think we should all realize some of our elders were raised differently and its not up to us to call them stupid.

My post was something I just wanted to throw in there. :) Not really tlaking about anyone elses reply. :) Just something I think about sometimes.

Marisa

[Scales Zoo]

Try this for an experiment...

Place a rubber life-like snake on a road, whether it is heavily travelled or not. Place a plastic turtle on the road in a different location. If possible, park your vehicle where you may watch, or sit down a safe distance away and watch the action. Some people will actually cross the road into oncoming traffic to run over the snake. Others will nearly hit the ditch to avoid the turtle, we will have to stop this trick before someone gets hurt. (We am aware of the fact that turtles are not native to this area, but the trick works anyways) Imagine the surprise of the jack@$$ who runs over the (rubber)snake to kill it, and then stops to mutilate it with a shovel. The laughter could be heard a mile away. Mean trick, some would say, but an interesting lesson in human nature.

Sheila

[LdyDrgn]

It was very sad to hear the story when we met up with BW that evening. But on the other hand, our group caught a beautiful baby Canebrake that is now in his possession. It will be spoiled rotten ;)

[unBOAlievable]

Where I live, people, or should they be called people, run over turtles for the fun of it, snakes are just an added bonus for more points since they move faster.

I believe I live in the redneck capital and there motto is,
it's alive, lets kill it.

can I kill it paw? shuck sakes no boy it's my tern git out bahind da gosh darn wheel boy an let me drive.

The South sucks.

[Tim and Julie B]

I don't agree with you. The South does not suck. There are people like you, BWSmith, Ldy Drgn etc. You all don't feel this way and I am sure that you will pass this along to your friends and kids. Doesn't BWSmith do educational shows? ( I think you said that in a previous post) So you are slowly teaching the next generation. The South is steeped in tridition almost to a fault. That everything should be done their way and why listen to someone else. We all know what that feeling is left over from. The South does not suck it is just slow to change. But then again you live there :D

[Emily-Fisher]

Omg..whoever did that should be tortured until he dies. That is DISGUSTING!! What is the point of doing that?! That really disgusts me. We should cut off that person's head too! No, that would be too easy for whoever killed that snake. Gez, some people in our worlds are really truly stupid.

[LdyDrgn]

Yes, BW does educational talks.

as we were bagging the canebrake, some old man drove past and asked if we were going to kill it. We said, "Heck no, we're CATCHING it!" He looked at us like we were crazy *shrug* HAHAHAHAHA

[KrokadilyanGuy3]

I've done that turtle in the road trick a few times except its with old turtle shells.. (Easier to find then fake ones) I place them on different areas of the road and get pretty much the same ending. The first car, normally usually hits the shell. It's so bad here I was actually about to save a Red ear off the road when a car on the far side turned to hit it.. Nearly tagging me. On another point of the topic around my area alot of people go out with bats, sticks, poles or some sort of home made weapon and cruise the roads at night looking for armadillos AKA "Dillo. Bashing" Sad humor. I don't see why it's done. Waste of gas if nothing else.
Xain

[Mason]

Originally posted by Matt
Mason

1. I wanted to ask what you meant by this exactly. Im confused as to what this means and what it has to do with this topic?



Just saying that Americans are always viewed as blood thirsty and ignorant to the way things are. People will always be quick to ad in some anti american propaganda if they see a picture of any destruction.
How many people from Africa post on this board? I imagine that none do. I also think that if they do, they don't have a camera or a scanner, cause if they did I'm sure they could post much worse pictures. Or how bout Asia where we could get a good pic of a pathetic tiger with out any diginity chained to a wall, malnourished and ready to be killed, and mutilated for "medicinal" uses. Maybe someone from Brazil would like to post a few threads about al the cameleons that didn't make it to market.

My point is that governments that educate their populations will accomplish having their subjects wondering how to keep things ballanced and Alive. Governments that put money into arms, leaving the children to starve usually end up with trigger happy armies that will use a grenade to kill a snake, and an RPG to kill a zebra, or an AK to shoot a monkey out of the tree. Many species in every part of the world suffer to the point of extinction. For most the concept of extinction, or concervation, or hell even compasion doesn't exist.

Sure it is a nasty picture of a snake that started this thread, but it is just one of a long list of happenings, most of which didn't have a picture taken.

Here (ssnakess.com); We are just animals trying 2 help animals.

[Linds]

Tragic. Sadly yet that as long as there are people these types of incidents will persist.....:(

[Scales Zoo]

We understand the tragedy of the wildlife in countries where there are no laws to protect the people and children, that there are no laws to protect the wildlife. But in a modern country, there is no excuse for such nonsense. My father and I have had fabulous arguments about rattlesnakes, and I have often advised him that if he does not like to farm with the rattlesnakes, that there is prime farmland 200 km north of the river where there are no snakes. Not a sign of intelligence to be planting grain in the desert anyways.

Sheila

[marisa]

I just don't see why we are surprised when these things happen. I see a new thread like this all the time. And everyone jumps in to reply "oh how sad" like its some sort of surprise that people do these things, they act as though everyone in the world should have the same education they do about snakes.

My example of my boyfriends grandmother won't change regardless of what city she lives in. Some people were raised with a fear of snakes. Period. You can't expect the entire world to agree with the idea snakes are good.

Marisa

[BWSmith]

I don't think anyone is suprised, just disgusted. It is different when you are looking at a picture of an actual rattler mutilated. The idea of people doing these things is a bit abstract, but when you see the results first hand, it really drives the reality home.

[marisa]

Yeah, I *have* seen it first hand plenty of times in California. I have watched many a baby rattler get its head cut off with a shovel. Kingsnakes were left alone because they "killed rattlers" and my own dad killed at least 15 in the yard that I can remember over the years.

I am just saying that everyone says things like "oh that person is an idiot!" and "how dumb are people" without even realizing that some people haven't had the perfect herp education...some people have grown up being FORCED to fear them, some people are just plain stupid. So it does disgust me, but not surprise me. I just feel its a little egotistical to call anyone who kills a snake stupid becaues none of us know how that person was raised, what intelligence level they are at, or if anyone has EVER spoken to them about herps.

[Mustangrde1]

I hate to say it but it is not only a problem with reptiles, I have been a Hunter and Fisherman all my life and have heard the" if it flies it dies or its got fins and its big lets kill it for the picture" all to many times. There are many great groups out there that truly try to promote Conservation of the natural resources.

I have put my blood, sweat,muscle, money behind some of these groups in wildlife habitat restoration and had my son involved in it,through these groups . What a great way to spend time with your kids and teach them about nature and wildlifes place in the world.

I was very lucky growing up with a family that was always hunting or fishing and grandparents and great grandparents who were farmers and taught me a valuable lesson,"Take only what you can use and never kill anything you cant use." Even my grandfather who was scared to death of a snake told me once Its one of gods creatures and has as much right to life as we do and it was here first.

Unfortunately in todays world many parents have let the Tv and others raise their children, all to many have forgot what nature is all about . It is time maybe they start getting back to nature and teach their children to respect everything and not to kill anything they cant eat .

[shaggybill]

Going back to the argument of alot of USA'rs being ruthless when it comes to snakes, I think it stems from the fact that they/we have to deal with venomous ones alot more than our northern neighbours. Especially in the southern US where there are venomous snakes everywhere you turn your head. Because of this, and the fact that nearly everyone down there is ignorant when it comes to snakes, VOILA! Everyone is going to kill them.

I was born in the back woods of North Carolina and we grew up thinking copperheads and cottonmouths would cause instant death if you were bitten. So obviously, we would kill them when we saw them.

I'm going back there for a week next Monday and I'm going to show my old friends that these snakes are not deadly and that if left alone, they are harmless. They are the hicks whom you guys are speaking of. They do go out of thier way to kill animals, especially snakes. Hopefully, I can change that and maybe save the life of a snake or two in the process.

Oh, how noble of me...

[Randolph]

Personally when i notice a VENEMOUS snake in my path. I'm inclined to avoid it. But that's just me. Maybe i'm the crazy one. And they say the pet trade is extincting animals. Stuff like this makes me sick. And if it is in your way and you can't get around admire it, it's nature at it's finest. That being said **** like that is also human nature for many. Who are the Animals?