Another senseless snake killing...

[Forcedexile]

So I was delivering a package to a nice family out in the country-side as I was leaving I noticed a harmless garter snake making its way up on her porch. Well me being the snake friendly person that I am, I ask her, "Ma'am I just noticed you have a snake up here on your porch. Would you like me to move it for you?" Little did I know she was one of those religious types who believe snakes are evil and are of the devil. So before I could try to convince her otherwise she grabbed a shovel from her garage and quickly chopped it's head off.

Needless to say I was very upset by the situation but I held my tongue and calmly left. It still makes me sick that some people will let a fox or a raccoon wander through their yard but as soon as it's a snake they go out of their way to kill it. I guess next time I'll just not say anything, wait for her to go inside, and move the snake myself.

 

[Reptilekyle64]

Meh the religious types... Wish we rammed our ideas up there A## but you did the right thing, it would be impossible to for see that type of reaction. I either wait for people to understand my point of view when dealing with reptiles or I ask them why they are even talking to me. So many strangers love to be nibby and see what Im moving off the road if they are polite I tell em, otherwise I am pretty nasty.

 

[AliCat37]

awful. I wouldn't have even said anything, I would have just picked it up whilst she was standing there. I hate people.

 

[Forcedexile]

Yeah, Ali. Next time it happens that's what I'll do but there was no way I could have known she was one of those people. She seemed perfectly normal at the time.

 

[Michael823]

I pulled over the other day to try and rescue a young (but clearly noticeable) snapping turtle from near the center lane. And just about as I got to the area of the road I wanted to cross from, this jerk comes flying by in a truck, and pretty much swerves across to hit it. Needless to say, the turtle didn't make it.

I was sick to my stomach watching, what two seconds early was a a healthy snapping turtle, fly up underneath this guys truck and bounce off of the pavement to the side of the road. And once again, I wished for a drastic depopulation of the human race.

 

[The_Thunderer]

I don't know that I would have held my tongue... but as she went to the garage to get the shovel, I would have caught it and told her I'd relocate it. I do this all the time, here where I live, so I wouldn't have hesitated at all. There are simply some reactions I can now predict.

However, I do understand your situation... not wanting to appear brusque or to offend her. It is just a bummer for it "to go" that way, that's all.

 

[AliCat37]

Michael, that's so terrible. I had the same experience with a bullsnake last year. It was laying in the road so I pulled over to go pick it up (I think it was actually already dead unfortunately) and a big truck sped up and hit it. The sound was sickening. I've seen people swerve to hit deer, coyotes, squirrels, prairie dogs, snakes, birds, turkeys. I sincerely wish that the (insert choice words here) would end up popping a tire and rolling themselves off a cliff. Someone even told me about their friend who had shot two prairie dogs with an arrow at once and they started screaming and biting each other. I truly believe that the day will come and people like this who harm innocent creatures just to kill WILL get what they deserve. What goes around will come around.

 

[hypnoctopus]

I pulled over the other day to try and rescue a young (but clearly noticeable) snapping turtle from near the center lane. And just about as I got to the area of the road I wanted to cross from, this jerk comes flying by in a truck, and pretty much swerves across to hit it. Needless to say, the turtle didn't make it.

I was sick to my stomach watching, what two seconds early was a a healthy snapping turtle, fly up underneath this guys truck and bounce off of the pavement to the side of the road. And once again, I wished for a drastic depopulation of the human race.

A turtle?! Not that I agree with people who specifically swerve to hit snakes, but I didn't think anyone had a problem with turtles! That's so horrible.

I had a traumatizing experience once when I was about 10 and someone went out of their way to hit a snake. It was on the side of the road and it actually struck at one vehicle. I was begging my parents if we could push it out of the way with a stick or something (I remember thinking it was a rattlesnake, but I may have been wrong), when a truck swerved to hit it.

On another note, we do get a lot of wild hares here, especially if you go out into the country a ways, and a person I knew lived out there and although I never saw her do it, she said that she was always trying to hit the rabbits whenever she drove home.

 

[Michael823]

I've hit two animals in my tenure as a driver, and I felt horrible about both. The first was a weasel, who looked to be playing tag with another one across the road. I came to a complete stop, and the weasel pretty much ran back in the lane and hit the side of my rim. It probably gave him a headache running into the side of my tire, but I think he ended up okay. And the other was a squirrel that I just couldn't avoid. It darted out in front of me, and I just couldn't apply the brakes in time.

And although I know some accidents are unavoidable, most people either purposely hit these animals, or give no thought to avoiding them. And with turtles, it is especially sad. It takes them so long to survive into adulthood, only to be crushed in a second. And it's not exactly hard to avoid them. For one, they look like rocks, so who would be dumb enough to even mistakenly run one over. And secondly, they don't exactly dart out in front of you. But to see someone swerve to hit them is just tragic.

My grandfather keeps records of all of the turtles he's documented over the years, and he somewhat regularly finds ones that have been demolished by 4-wheelers (with the tracks to show that it was no accident). And where he can identify many of them by notches or markings, it's just heartbreaking for him. He's had some that he's followed for decades, even done paintings of them, only to have found them massacred by people who just don't seem to know any better.

 

[Michael823]

I've hit two animals in my tenure as a driver, and I felt horrible about both. The first was a weasel, who looked to be playing tag with another one across the road. I came to a complete stop, and the weasel pretty much ran back in the lane and hit the side of my rim. It probably gave him a headache running into the side of my tire, but I think he ended up okay. And the other was a squirrel that I just couldn't avoid. It darted out in front of me, and I just couldn't apply the brakes in time.

And although I know some accidents are unavoidable, most people either purposely hit these animals, or give no thought to avoiding them. And with turtles, it is especially sad. It takes them so long to survive into adulthood, only to be crushed in a second. And it's not exactly hard to avoid them. For one, they look like rocks, so who would be dumb enough to even mistakenly run one over. And secondly, they don't exactly dart out in front of you. But to see someone swerve to hit them is just tragic.

My grandfather keeps records of all of the turtles he's documented over the years, and he somewhat regularly finds ones that have been demolished by 4-wheelers (with the tracks to show that it was no accident). And where he can identify many of them by notches or markings, it's just heartbreaking for him. He's had some that he's followed for decades, even done paintings of them, only to have found them massacred by people who just don't seem to know any better.

 

[AliCat37]

I've hit a snake before. It was an accident, and the only animal that I have hit. I thought it was a stick in the road until I was RIGHT up on it, I swerved but I was still too close. I feel bad to this day.

 

[Forcedexile]

The only animals I've ever hit were ones that darted into the road and I couldn't react in time. Mostly possums and raccoons.

There was one time I was driving and I saw a fox on the shoulder look both ways and when traffic cleared he crossed the road. I wish all animals were that smart.

 

[AliCat37]

There was one time I was driving and I saw a fox on the shoulder look both ways and when traffic cleared he crossed the road. I wish all animals were that smart.

The foxes here do that too! I even had a coyote waiting at a stop sign once, so when I stopped, he looked at me and made eye contact, looked both ways, then trotted across the street o.o

 

[susang]

It was many years ago but I had a neighbor call frantic because there was a Mojave green in her yard. So I went over big gopher snake, I tried guiding it though the fence when she hit it with a shovel. Then her hubby arrived with a gun and shot the poor thing to pieces, he then kept hitting it with the shovel. I was crying and he called me an idiot, because no snake was going to be in his back yard. He didn't want it in mine either. We lived in the desert, sheesh, what did he think.

 

[IAmLink]

I also live in an area where the people here actually aim for the box turtles and snapping turtles that try to cross the road. I've already picked up about 7-8 turtles this year, and more than half of them were already hit. Three of which needed to be taken to a vet to immediately be put down

I can't stand people that kill animals like that without a second thought. It's disgusting and really makes me wish it were possible to thin the human population :nope:

 

[hypnoctopus]

I also live in an area where the people here actually aim for the box turtles and snapping turtles that try to cross the road. I've already picked up about 7-8 turtles this year, and more than half of them were already hit. Three of which needed to be taken to a vet to immediately be put down

I can't stand people that kill animals like that without a second thought. It's disgusting and really makes me wish it were possible to thin the human population :nope:

I generally don't even kill bugs if I can help it. I can't imagine killing anything larger. I just completely agree with you.

 

[v00kimba00v]

I really hate hearing about things like this, makes me ashamed for our whole species.

I still remember one time when I was a child playing with the neighbor kids, we found a young rattlesnake basking in the middle of the street. We were keeping our distance but flagging down everyone driving down the street to let them know to avoid it till our neighbor, who relocated snakes we found to a near by field, came home. Finally one person we told went out of their way to hit it after we told them what we were doing and almost hit one of the kids in their way.

I just don't get people like that. Endanger a kid to kill something that doesn't even effect you?