I've certainly done my share at making them endangered here. While currently they are considering the Eastern Diamondback, it can't be long until all rattlesnakes are added.

Feds consider adding poisonous rattlesnake to endangered species list
by Audrey Hudson
05/21/2012

Environmental groups have convinced the federal government to propose listing the poisonous eastern diamondback rattlesnake as an endangered species in order to protect the reptile from “human persecution.”

“Survival of these snakes in large part depends on whether people continue to persecute them or instead choose to allow these amazing creatures to share the land with us,” Bill Matturro, spokesman for Protect All Living Species, said in welcoming the government’s decision, announced earlier this month. “In the Southeast, we are blessed with a rich natural heritage of animals and plants. All of these species—even the rattlesnakes—should be allowed to exist.”

The Fish and Wildlife Service says they are taking comments on listing the snake because environmental groups presented “substantial scientific or commercial information indicating that listing the eastern diamondback rattlesnake may be warranted.”

The diamondback is the largest rattlesnake in North America, and the range of the eastern species encompasses the coastal plain of the southeastern U.S. from North Carolina to south Florida, and west to Mississippi and Louisiana.

In addition to humans, environmentalists say the snake is at risk of extinction because its habitat, longleaf pine forests, are also disappearing.

Federal officials estimate that 55 percent of this species can be found on private property. On public property where the remaining 45 percent are believed to be located, federal officials would have the authority to place restrictions on the use of that land if the reptile were listed as an endangered species.

The federal government frowns on harassing or killing protected species, and has been known to impose some hefty fines. There is an exception to the rules if the person is defending lives or property, but the government has to first believe one’s life or property is in danger.

Fined for defending herself

In 1991, an underwater photographer was fined $10,000 for harassing pilot whales near Hawaii after his assistant Lisa Costello was nearly drowned by one of the creatures when it grabbed her leg and plunged her 40 feet beneath the sea.

A rancher in Montana fought the government for seven years after he was fined $5,000 in 1989 for shooting a grizzly bear. An Interior Department review board finally concluded that the rancher, John Shuler, was in imminent danger and shot the bear in self-defense.

The fine was dismissed.

“The default position by the federal government is to prosecute,” said Rob Gordon, a biologist and senior adviser for strategic outreach at the Heritage Foundation. “Government has a history of absurdly going after people who are attacked by federally protected species.”

Such a listing would outlaw some popular southern festivals called “Rattlesnake Roundups,” wherein poisonous snakes are literally rounded up and killed, and rodeos, where the snakes are caught, used in races, and then released.

Affecting religious practices

What remains unclear is the effect such a listing would have on those southern religious organizations that celebrate their faith in Jesus Christ by taking up serpents, a practice also known as “snake handling.”

Snakebites are uncommon, but because of their potent venom, rattlesnakes are responsible for the majority of fatalities from snakebites; eastern and western varieties of diamondback rattlesnakes account for almost 95 percent of these deaths, according to the American Family Physician, a peer-reviewed journal.

The government will take one year to receive comments and conduct studies on whether the snake should be listed as endangered.

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=51600

Typical position of one who sits behind a desk and is not very likely to cross paths with a PO'd rattler! On the other hand, as one who crosses said path on a regular basis, sorry if I am not quite so charitable.






Tracked this one from (or to ) a brush pile before I reasoned he might still be in the brush pile and "lost interest". The track was wider than my EEE boot!



Regards,
hm

I prefer not to 'share the land' with them.

New York State placed them on the protected species list in 1972. Some of the popular hiking trails have 3'x4' signs at the trailheads warning people that rattlers are protected and it is illegal to harm or harass them. There are fewer hikers than there use to be.

Any rattler seen by me will be persecuted on sight.

HM, from the looks of that last picture, I would bet that would be an excellent place to be in the late afternoon during dove season, however, away from brushpiles, lol.

It is. Good coyote callin spot as well. In fact I called in three bobcats one night on the other side of the pond.

Regards,
hm

I'm thinking the easiest way to solve this problem is to take all the critters caught at one rattlesnake roundup, and truck them to Washington, DC.

Dump half of them in the chambers of Congress, half of them in the chambers of the Senate, and maybe a dozen in the Whitehouse. If they're protected, and you can't kill or harrass them, they might do some good there.

Ain't it about time we listed envionmentalists as an endangered species?

+1...."terminated on sight"

I have also noticed they seem to be endangered.When they live in the mountains that's fine with me,but when they want to live in my yard,they become endangered.

I like snakes, even venomous ones. They serve a role in the ecosystem. I generally don't kill them unless I have a reason to.

I don't mind snakes to bad when I am where they live,I just don't like them much where I live.
I have never really understood what good snakes do.I don't know much about snakes but they say they eat one rat about every two weeks,unless they eat a baby rabbit first then it might be one rat per month. It always seemed it would take a lot of snakes to do much good on rodents,maybe its different in other parts of the country.I dont ever kill black snakes and I guess they eat baby rabbits to.

Next..... The Cockroach and Bugle Mouth Bass.

Having had two bird dogs bit by them (both surviving and developing an aversion to them now barking and letting Dad know so he can deal with the nasty critter) and having killed 4 in my yard and shop (left the door open once), I figure the endangered species is me. Sorry world, but any venomous snake I run across is DRT. I don't give a hoot if it is the last of it's species. Means one less chance of me or mine getting bit. In 1970 I met a 14 yr. old boy that had lost a leg to a rattler bite when he was 11. That has been in the back of my mind ever time I encounter one. 55 years of hunting South Texas and New Mexico has definitely placed them on my kill on sight list.

Thaine

“...substantial scientific or commercial information indicating that listing the eastern diamondback rattlesnake may be warranted.”

I bet said groups did NOT present credible information and/or data. These groups just know how to work the Act and a species being truly 'endangered' is NOT their motivation.

Groups like this are motivated first and foremost to have the government take control of private land without compensating the owner(s) for it, as required by normal Eminent Domain law.

They are also dedicated to ending recreational hunting and firearms ownership.

As an aside, we have (small, mostly) rattlers up here in central and eastern WA and when I see one I do like to shoot them. No good reason on my part, I just enjoy shooting at them. In my 47 years, I have only hit 7-8--and most of those were during my teen years when fishing at the Methow River and looking for them on purpose while carrying the old family heirloom WWI 1911--so it isn't a regular thing with me.

We certainly don't see anything like that big 'un hm11996 is shown with in his photos, zowie! Nice going hm!

Yep. Indiscriminant killing of most any species is typically unwarranted. Control, yes. Snakes in the boonies get a pass from me. Rattlers in the yard, however, do not. Other non-venomous species always get a pass.