(July 18, 2014 at 9:50 am)Rhythm Wrote: I'm guessing they send you out to drive the snakes back into the brush. I was walking on the footpaths through paines prarie in fl as a volunteer once - and caught a whole gaggle of gators just sunning themselves on a concrete slab that a bench had been built on. I wish I'd had a camera - it was a surreal moment.
Well, now that would give me the heebies. How far off were you?
You're right -- my job, in part, is to moderate the visitor/wildlife interactions. We're a nature preserve, so the wildlife gets right-of-way, and that often means telling visitors to leave them alone, or directing them away. But snakes are generally shy animals and want nothing to do with people; generally, North American snakes bite humans only in defense.
When I see folks getting close to one of our eight or nine species of snakes, I'll tell them, "I've got a theory that people who get snakebit probably deserved it." Even the moccasins, who aren't afraid to defend their turf, will leave you alone so long as you don't get stupid, as you likely know.