DON'T LIKE SNAKES?

Try living without them

Photo: California red-sided garter snake, courtesy of reddit.com

As one of the most misunderstood animals on the planet, snakes have been alternately revered and reviled by various cultures throughout history, and imbued with mystical powers both good and bad. Unfortunately, in the western world, snakes are often portrayed as harbingers of evil.

But snakes are not the malevolent creatures portrayed metaphorically in Judeo-Christian culture. They have become convenient victims of a plethora of superstition and myth based largely on the Biblical tale of Adam and Eve and the erroneous presumption that some animals are inherently evil. But the damage has been done, and the reputation of the poor, maligned serpent may never fully recover. Superstition, urban legends, old wives’ tales, and Hollywood have made sure of it.

As with any animal, snakes aren’t subject to an abstract social construct of moral behavior imposed on them by humans. Animal behavior isn’t based on the concepts of good or bad, right or wrong. It is based on instinct — primarily on the instincts to survive and reproduce — both of which are imperative traits for any creature and every species, including ours.

An absence of limbs makes it hard for humans to relate to snakes, so we unsympathetically distance ourselves from them, unable to make an anthropomorphic connection to a creature so unlike us. But as far as crawling on their bellies is concerned, does anyone really believe that snakes didn’t already crawl on their bellies prior to allegedly being “cursed” by God?

If squirrels had been slandered in the Bible as badly as snakes were, people might fear squirrels today. We can laugh about it, but would it be any more ludicrous than believing that snakes are satanic creatures?

Not only are snakes NOT evil, they aren’t out to get us either. What people interpret as aggression is usually nothing more than a snake defending itself, which is the right of every living creature. If someone pokes me with a stick or comes after me with a shovel, I’m going to defend myself, and so are you!

People are most often bitten while trying to capture, provoke or kill a snake. So don’t do it! If you have a venomous snake in your yard, have it removed by a professional relocator who will return it to suitable habitat.

If you have a harmless snake in your yard, it’s doing you a huge favor by eating the kinds of destructive pests that want to destroy your garden and invade your home. Once it’s gotten rid of the pests in your yard, it’ll go somewhere else.

There are more than 3400 snake species ranging from the semi-frozen tundra of Northern Canada to the steamy jungles of the equator and most of the world’s oceans. As highly effective predators, snakes make an enormous contribution toward maintaining the balance of nature.

I am amazed by an animal that can crawl, swim, dig, climb, capture prey, and in some cases, glide through the air, all without the benefit of arms, legs, fins or wings. Whether you like them or not, you have to admire their beauty, mystique, and diversity. In addition, many of them are stunningly beautiful, such as the California red-sided garter snake pictured above.

I have kept snakes as pets since I was 10 years old (about 55 years now) and I can attest to their aesthetic beauty, grace, and agility. Snakes provide an equal or greater amount of enjoyment than an aquarium filled with tropical fish, because honestly, have you ever tried to hold a pet fish?

Snakes have a prehistoric lineage and are the living, breathing, modern-day cousins of long-extinct beasts, providing a glimpse back to a time when the earth was ruled by reptiles.

Snakes make great pets. They don’t claw the drapes or leave hair on the furniture. They don’t poop on the lawn or bite the mailman or bark and keep the neighbors awake. Snakes won’t come when you call them (they are essentially deaf and not sufficiently sentient to react to verbal commands, even if they could hear), nor will they seek affection or play the way some mammals do, but they are as individually unique in their personalities as any other animal. But because I like my pets to like me back, I also have a cat.

Far from being emissaries of evil, snakes are merely creatures like any other. They can’t eat us and they don’t want to bite us. When one occasionally does bite a human (which is virtually always the human’s fault), only a small percentage of them are venomous. They live, eat, reproduce and do their best to survive in a world that holds them in contempt, and yet we could not live without them. As voracious predators, snakes are the barrier between human agriculture and the vermin that would devour our food crops and cause widespread disease and destruction.

No, snakes aren’t evil; they’re essential to human survival. They are fascinating, incredible, highly specialized, indispensable members of the natural world. Considering all that snakes do for us, we really should be nicer to them.

Author’s bio: Dave Jensen is the former owner of Wasatch Snake Removal in Salt Lake City, Utah, and guest administrator for the Snake Anti-Defamation League on Facebook. He has never met a snake he didn’t like.