Lessons from a rattlesnake
Writers note....This article was written about a week ago
Earlier today I went out to Butte Valley to write up an estimate for some work to be done on a ranch house. I was out behind the garage looking at the siding when the homeowner told me to freeze and slowly walk away. Turned out there was a little rattlesnake right at my feet. It blended so well with the gravel walkway that you had to take a second look to find it. The lady that lived there got a shovel and asked if I could take care of it. I thought she meant for me to remove it. So I asked for a box to put it in. She got the box, but her intention was for me to kill it with the shovel and put it in the box. My intention was to pick it up with the shovel, put it in the box and go dump him on the edge of her property. Well, I tried but the little guy kept sliding off of my shovel. "Please don't let him get away!" she said half panicked, worried he would show up somewhere else around her house. Left with few options, I decided I had to kill it.
Now you'd think that killing a rattlesnake wouldn't bother anybody but it bothered me. I realized that I hadn't killed an animal since high school. Back then I worked on a chicken ranch and killing diseased chickens was part of my job. That was about 40 years ago. The poor snake did not want to die, he just wanted a shady spot to hang out and, well, just be. In retrospect, I wished now I hadn't killed the snake. I think that with a little more effort I could have caught him and saved him.
So I have asked myself why this experience has been bugging me all day. Seems the older I get, the less I am attracted to violence. Maybe raising children does that to you. Maybe it's because I have always tried to see the sanctity in all life, to realize that all creatures have a right to exist. That kind of thinking was partly why I became a vegetarian about 35 years ago. But today, I broke one of my rules when I killed that snake. He wasn't attacking me or anybody else, and that, I have always said, is the only reason I would ever kill or use violence on another living creature (other than pesky insects).
Then again, I guess there was some good in this experience. It has strengthened my resolve against violence and killing, even rattlesnakes. I know that hunters don't get this. I know that meat eaters don't get this. I know that people who have no problem inflicting pain on another don't get this. I know that Christians who believe that God put animals on earth to serve mankind in any capacity that we see fit do not get this. And that's too bad. Could you imagine a world where all creatures had the right to exist and problems were never settled with violence? Wars would not happen. Battered women would not happen. Gang violence would not happen. Abused children would not happen. This kind of world could exist, it could be our reality some day. But you have to want it and you have to be able to imagine it, that's the first step. When we can see that we are all connected on a deeper level then we can feel true empathy and compassion for all creatures because we see a bit of ourself in all creatures, even rattlesnakes.
Comments
Joe,
Be carefull repeating this story, as I understand it's illegal to kill rattlesnakes in CA.
That said, I disagree with you somewhat. In older age, I too have lost my youthfull zeal for killing wild animals. This is somewhat from raising kids but also because as men get older our testosterone goes down and estrogen actually goes up a bit. Women have the opposite effect which is why they get so darned mean and harder to live with and why we die earlier! But back to my point.
Whether you believe in God or not, animals are not equal to human beings. We simply can't equate every living organism with sentient, reflective humans without devaluing ourselves.
Start with insects. Do mosquitoes have as much right to exist as we do? Mostquitoes have caused more human death and suffering than any war in human history (mostly through malaria). What about farm animals? The pig who lived so that I could eat bacon may have been slaughtered in the end, but because of my demand for bacon that pig got to live at least something of a healthy life. Had there been no demand that pig might not have been able to exist.
That rattlesnake was a simple, living organism designed to kill and eat rodents, which I appreciate. But it posed a danger to people being nearby. There are OTHER snakes in the wild that eat rodents and do not pose a danger to people. To me, killing the rattlesnake simply makes room for the other snakes it competes with. That and whenever I see a rattlesnake I get a shiver, there's something evil about those darn things.
Good luck in sorting through your feelings on this subject, and remember, meat and dairy products don't just come from a supermarket.
Posted by: Dane Langston | June 6, 2007 11:01 AM
On Killing a Rattlesnake
As the "half panicked" woman who wanted the rattlesnake dead I feel compelled to comment: I do not know what is the root cause of cruelty and violence in the world, but I doubt it has anything to do with the willingness to kill backyard rattlesnakes.
A few weeks ago I heard (on NPR) the most tragic story imaginable. A woman in the Congo told how her entire village was brutally killed by a group of Rwandans; she was forced to kill her own baby to survive and they killed her son because he would not engage in sex with her. She survived beatings and the digging of her own grave by the kindness of one "soldier" who told her she could walk away when she was sent to get water. This week I watched the horrors portrayed in the movie The Last King of Scotland and read about the end of life on earth in Cormac McCarthy's Pulitzer Prize winning book The Road. Last night on the news there was a story about a woman who was kidnapped, abused, and confined to a small room for over a year before she was found. All of these events are juxtaposed with the latest so-called reality shows on television making for a surreal experience that threatens to destroy you if you think too much about it! Oh, and yes, I witnessed the deliberate killing of two rattlesnakes that were on my property.
Like Joe, I too have been a vegetarian for over twenty years and consider cruelty to animals unconscionable. I am rooted in the 60s and 70s; the "age of Aquarius" was upon us and Cat Stevens' Peace Train brought affirmation of the hope for a movement that might overwhelm the other urges of humankind. I read a book by John Hersey at about that time (I believe it was White Lotus) in which he told the story of a group of persons who fought violence with what he called the "sleeping bird technique." Essentially this involved standing on one leg and assuming a submissive sleeping bird posture, the ultimate goal of which I guess was to invoke empathy from the perpetrators of violence; you can only kill so many sleeping birds before you feel bad about yourself. At the time I thought that was the ultimate answer to all violence.
We live at the safest time in history, yet technological advances in communication make us aware of the capacity of humans to be unspeakably cruel, failures of the frontal lobe are written deeply in our genes. I am grateful for every day I live surrounded by the beauty of the oaks and buttes and even the rattlesnakes. Rattlesnakes are abundant this year because of an explosion in the rodent population. They are a necessary and important part of the natural world. The natural world is abundantly cruel too (I was not able to watch most of Planet Earth because of the filming of the predatory behaviors of animals). So as a pacifist, vegetarian, naïve believer in the "sleeping bird technique", how can I encourage the act of killing a rattlesnake?
If you have some things that you simply cannot lose, to do so would be more painful than death itself --- a five-year- old grand nephew named Patrick who likes to pick up rocks in the backyard, two dogs named Rudy and Andy who like to nose moving things --- and you have watched the death of a horse bitten by a rattlesnake and known of friends who have lost their dogs --- it is not a question of cruelty. Snakes are not easy to catch and relocate and contrary to what many think they do not make you aware of their presence, especially the small ones. I too wish for that kinder, gentler world that Joe talks about rather than the nuclear winter prophesied by McCarthy, but I doubt I will live to see it, and I don't think stopping the killing of rattlesnakes for protection of pets would do much to make us feel more deeply connected to each other or to change the course of history.
Joyce L. Norman
June 7, 2007
Posted by: Joyce Norman | June 7, 2007 10:05 AM
Mr. Shaw, I was just googling "I killed a snake and I feel bad" and found your article. Thank you for writing it. I live in NC, and I ended up brutally mangling and eventually killing a baby rattlesnake earlier today that I had gotten very close to (3" from) without realizing. After flipping out and eventually calming down enough to do research, I found out it was nothing but a baby Rat Snake, which is harmless. Around here it's all country boys and farming, so not very cool to be upset about killing a snake but I am, horribly. So I'm glad there's someone else that feels the same way. Sorry you had to kill one too. I don't like killing anything unless I have to. I do understand Dane's comment about watching a horse or beloved pet die from a snake bite. But of course mine was only a rat snake. The guilt is awful! I wasn't raised in the farming business and was raised to respect all forms of life! There -are- more important things in the world, however, and as my father would say, "There are millions of more snakes out there." I was also raised to respect animals and reptiles because they are innocent, I believe, and don't understand we aren't out to get them. All about putting yourself in the "shoes" of the animals I suppose. Anyway, thanks so much for your article. Maybe I can sleep now. Coming so close to what you feel is death is not a pleasant experience, but having guilt afterwards, rattlesnake or not, seems so odd...
Thanks again,
H
Joes reply....Hal, nice to know there are sensitive people in this world. Some feel that animals were put on earth to serve man and that is plain ignorance. Thanks for responding.
Posted by: Hal | November 27, 2007 02:30 PM
I was trying to find out if it was, in fact, illegal to kill rattlesnakes in Southern California when I found this site.
I had a disturbing encounter at work today & hoped to find some info to back up my the position I took with some co-workers.
We all work at a canyon county golf course & I just discovered they have been making sport of seeking out & killing rattlesnakes for their 'good luck' rattles. I confronted several of them, when they were returning with a bloody shovel & tupperware containing rattlesnake rattles.
They professed to be 'scared' of the snakes, therfore justified in killing them, but willingly go tramping through the brush, boldly seeking out the snakes to slaughter them.
I'm disgusted & upset by their ignorant behavior, believing that all life has a purpose & should be respected...albeit from a safe distance in the case of dangerous wildlife.
I would like to hear from anyone that can help me know & understand the laws in So California concerning this issue before I take additional steps to keep the snakes from being harmed.
Posted by: Jeff | March 31, 2008 02:58 PM
Where in the world can you find out if it is legal or not to kill rattlesnakes in California?! I have been trying to find out! So far this season we have had five rattlesnakes on our porch. I have three kids, under 5. Waiting for Animal Control to come move them to the edge of the property isn't always an option, as they sometimes don't show up. Am I going to be fined or arrested for protecting my kids?
Joe's reply....I don't know Morgan, but if I were you, I'd just do what I gotta do.
Posted by: Morgan | May 22, 2008 03:34 PM
No, It is NOT illegal to kill rattlesnakes in California. Title 14 Section 5.60 states that the limit is 2. P.S. you don't need a license to kill them
Posted by: Adam | August 16, 2008 04:01 PM
I would also like to point out that you can also keep 2 of each species of native venomous snake that resides in CA as pets.
Posted by: Robert | August 27, 2008 08:02 PM