tangled up with any people rattlesnakes, all over the place. Seeing a rattlesnake is not a significant event; the property is not
any more or less safe than it was the hour before or after, and most actions to deal with the snake do more to calm the nerves
than resolve the situation.
Yet, in some cases, something must be done. Now we come to the “kill” portion of our statement. “Had to kill”. With the
fired departments, animal rescue organizations, humane societies, reptile associations, and numerous services ready to come
safely capture a snake, “kill” is never a “had to” situation. A snake bite to the hand of a rancher who has dispatched 20 of the
things (and declares themselves to be experienced) will cost over $100,000 – the cost to have the animal safely relocated will
be around $100 or less. Even to the most empathy-challenged animal hater, the math is clear.
On a personal note, to all the men out there, on the subject of “kill”: besting a stationary animal that’s giving fair warning
with a shotgun is not heroic, and actually a little embarrassing if you think about it. If these relatively small, shy, slow creatures are truly an epic adversary, it would seem much more of a unique story to face it and walk the other way. I think that’s
called “be the better man”; not letting fear dictate action. It might just be that I have a great father who taught me that just
because I don’t understand or like something doesn’t make it bad, but I’d hope that’s just a bit of common humanity that
sometimes gets lost in the moment.
Back to dissecting that phrase, we’ll go to the best part: “again”. Wait … I thought you had killed the rattlesnake alr VG