Yesterday I received an email from a good friend. He was out herping in the residential areas of Des Moines Iowa.
He reported finding 24 dead Plains garter snakes. Apparently killed by property owners. He also found 34 alive and well snakes.
This news of the dead snakes disturbed me as he wasn't herping a huge area.
Seems the plight of the snakes in his town is no better than in mine.
I've made some big gains in my neighborhood switching people over to not killing them but.....
Last week I found a large female(probably gravid) dead in the street in front of my residence. It was obvious the snake had been killed and thrown there.
I came to find out that the elderly lady across the street had gotten some yard work help from her daughter, who doesn't like snakes.
It's such a shame that these snakes are killed without a second thought.
I wish more people knew what a nice animal they were killing.