Wisconsin road project threatens rare snake

State wildlife officials say a road project in Waukesha County might end up killing a rare snake.

[Incredible]

Won't somebody PLEASE think of the children...errr...ummm...snake s!

[Mellers]

LOL I was thinking of something similar, having read the headline in a literal sense-why would anyone threaten a rare snake? It's got so many problems of its own....it's so mean to threaten anything, anyone!(I had a mental cartoon image of a road with an angry face, shaking its fist at a cowering, helpless cartoon snake).

I think I need more sleep....

[MN Locavore]

Why does the snake have to be killed?

Why not pick it up, it's only a garter forcryingoutloud!, and rerelease it when the road project is completed?

If more than just one garter, do the same with all that are found.

Why does anything have to be killed? This article doesn't make sense [to me].

[Wayne Harvey]

There should be an on site herpetologist to gather and re-locate the snakes as the project moves forward.

The state of California has made provisions to protect the San Francisco Garter Snakes, So why not adopt a similar plan here?

[O Pressed]

Hello !!!!!!!!!! It's a snake, just start the constuction, it will feel the vibrations and move somewhere else.
When are we going to quit being wagged by the tail?

[MN Locavore]

Wayne, you need to contact the WI DNR. Very sound idea.

[Incredible]

Wayne Harvey wrote:

There should be an on site herpetologist to gather and re-locate the snakes as the project moves forward.
The state of California has made provisions to protect the San Francisco Garter Snakes, So why not adopt a similar plan here?

Sure...let's hire a FTE for a few month rather than just move the snake. I'm sure that there are enough 'endangered' snakes and lizards to justify the cost for this person to work year-round, even when they are all hibernating.

I guess I'm not clear...are we talking about ONE snake, or the entire species? I guess I don't know why they don't just grab the darn thing, toss it into a sack, and release it into a cornfield down the road. By the time it finds its way back (assuming it even would), all the evil construction will be over, and s/he can slither right into that nice, new concrete house.

[Mellers]

Incredible wrote:

<quoted text>
Sure...let's hire a FTE for a few month rather than just move the snake. I'm sure that there are enough 'endangered' snakes and lizards to justify the cost for this person to work year-round, even when they are all hibernating.
I guess I'm not clear...are we talking about ONE snake, or the entire species? I guess I don't know why they don't just grab the darn thing, toss it into a sack, and release it into a cornfield down the road. By the time it finds its way back (assuming it even would), all the evil construction will be over, and s/he can slither right into that nice, new concrete house.

The species is threatened, a type of phrasings similar to endangered (but I think endangered is more concerning than threatened). The species is rare, and wroth protecting. At one point, the Dodo bird was plentiful, considered delicious to eat and so common no one gave a second thought about killing this bird. Now it is extinct. I do appreciate, in all seriousness, of protections of animals. Nature for nature's sake.

I still think the article's headline wording is funny, but the issue is serious. There may be some existing position at DNR who can help, and perhaps there should be (or is) a process in place to help.

[Extinct Dragon Fly]

My cousin the red striped snapper dragon fly, now extinct, was last seen being hit by an "Old Town" canoe mounted on top of a Toyota Prius which was on the way to the BWCAWCAW.

The Prius had a Sierra Club bumper sticker on the left side of the back bumper.

The people in the Prius all had non-animal origin cloths on and were eating NO MEAT.

The right side of the back bumper had a rainbow sticker on it.