Snake hunt set for June

[faze]

Date: Apr 07, 2004 - 11:59 AM
Firefighters seek permit for fund-raiser

By JIM HOOK
Senior writer

Volunteer firefighters at Shippensburg's Cumberland Valley Hose Company looked beyond bingo and the community fair for their latest money maker.

They're banking on thrill of snakes. Rattlesnakes.

Fire Chief Chris Helm, a snake hunter and member of the Keystone Reptile Club, announced the snake hunt and sacking contest on Friday -- nearly three months ahead of the event and a couple of weeks before the state decides whether to issue a permit for the event.

"We're doing this so you understand this isn't a back-in-the-hills, hillbilly thing," Helm said to reporters. "There's going to be no harm to any of these reptiles. They must be returned to where they were caught -- unharmed."

The event will be very controlled and organized, according to Helms.

Firefighters say they are expecting controversy and even welcome a visit from animal rights activists.

Andrea Cimino, wildlife campaign manager with the Humane Society of the United States in Washington, D.C., said society investigators have visited snake roundups in Pennsylvania and Texas. She said she is not aware that any Pennsylvania roundup has been the site of public protest, but the society still worries for the snakes.

"There are not as many concerns with Pennsylvania roundups as in the larger ones (in the West)," Cimino said. "Public slaughter is not allowed, but we are still concerned."

Let's back up.

The plan

The Snake Hunt and State Sacking Contest scheduled for June 19 and 20 is actually two separate snake contests. Pennsylvania's timber rattlesnakes and other native snakes will be featured in the snake hunt. Western diamondback rattlesnakes from Oklahoma will star in the sacking contest.

In the snake hunt, participants can search anywhere within a 30-mile radius of the Shippensburg Fairgrounds for a variety of snakes during the weekend. The snakes are brought to the fairgrounds for judging -- the longest, the biggest, the most rattles, etc.

After being on display, each snake is returned to where it was found. Each hunter must have a state permit to participate.

In the sacking contest, a two-man team picks up five diamondbacks and places them in a sack. The state record last year was 18 seconds. Women and children also participate in sacking contests, but sack nonvenomous snakes provided by the reptile club.

The fire company bills the outdoors event as fun and educational for the whole family and a boost for the local travel industry. Hunters will be renting motel rooms, Helms said. Weekend camping will be allowed at the fairgrounds for a fee. Nine vendors have already signed up for display space.

Visitors get in free. Besides gawking at someone sacking 7-foot diamondbacks barehanded, visitors can examine Pennsylvania snakes close-up and ask questions about them.

Firefighters expect to make money selling chicken barbecue, refreshments and "snake hunt" T-shirts. The reptile club also will sell souvenirs.

The permit

The Fish and Boat Commission is to decide about issuing a permit for the event before the end of the month, according to a commission spokesman. The commission issues about 10 each year.

Keystone Reptile Club has a state permit to hold four roundup events a year. The club chose to drop its July snake hunt because attendance was low at the remote location in Grampian, Clearfield County, Helms said.

The Shippensburg roundup would be in an area with more human inhabitants, but also in an area where the fish commission has great concern for the population of timber rattlers.

"There are certain areas where rattlesnake populations are sensitive, and we may want to discourage hunts in those areas," said Dan Tredinnick, spokesman for the Fish and Boat Commission.

Timber rattlesnakes are on the cusp of being listed among the threatened and endangered species, he said.

Snake hunters check the length, weight and sex of each snake caught and its location, Helms said. The information is given to the state, which is conducting an inventory of timber rattlesnakes in order to establish management areas.

"We have real reservations about hunts," Tredinnick said. "We want to make sure certain standards are followed, who's involved and how the snakes are handled. There are some individuals who don't want to treat snakes with respect."

Snake hunts can be educational if conducted correctly, he said.

Out West

Some snake hunts in western states allow hunters to burn diamondbacks out of their holes, neglect the snakes in captivity and kill them.

"Lots of snakes have suffered considerable abuse before being brought to Pennsylvania" for sacking contests, Cimino said. A snake may be handled more than 15 times during a sacking contest and suffer a broken jaw and ribs. Handlers can be bitten.

The state doesn't allow Pennsylvania snakes to be used in sacking contests.

Cimino's chief concern with snake hunting is that each snake be returned to the exact spot where it was found. Snakes don't do well in new territories, and if they do survive they can disturb the genetics of a population.

Snake handling

No snakes will touch the ground of the fairgrounds, Helms said. The main event will be held inside a double-fenced "pit."

"A person of the general public has a greater chance of getting struck by lightning than being bitten by a rattlesnake (at the fairgrounds)," Helms said. "The sacker is a different story."

Usually at least one participant, typically one holding a sack, is bitten during a sacking contest, according to Helms.

"I hunt them a lot," Helms said. "I'm not a sacker."

A medical helicopter will be at the event all weekend, according to Sue Fisher, a member of the project committee.

"We may have anti-venom," she said.

Committeeman Mike Weimer said that he had preferred dead snakes to live ones before he was dragged off to a snake hunt.

"I got to touch a snake," Weimer said. "I became more respectful and understanding. I wouldn't have gotten that if I hadn't gone on the snake hunt."



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Jim Hook can be reached at 262-4759, or jhook@pubop.com.


Originally published Saturday, April 3, 2004