^^ I could count the number of annual snake bite fatalities in the US using just my fingers and toes...

there are generally 20-30 dog related fatalities in the US each year
so yeah, your pet poses a greater risk than being bitten and seriously injured by a venomous snake.


a related problem, is that for every 10 "venomous" snakes that people kill in their yards, 9 are harmless

[Edited on May 26, 2008 at 12:19 AM. Reason : .]

5/26/2008 12:18:36 AM

ummm


that's only because people don't let wild venomous snakes sleep in the bed with them like, say a dog.

if you could hold time exposure to humans equal between an ordinary house dog or cat and a venomous snake I am pretty sure the snake would lose.

this is an idiotic argument. Snakes are much more dangerous than a house pet.

5/26/2008 12:25:11 AM

On the other hand, dogs can actually kill people who resist. Copperheads can't do this. They can't chase you down. They can't beat you in a fight.

5/26/2008 12:27:09 AM

If you lock someone in a bare room with a Black Mamba, Im pretty sure most people are going to lose that fight.

And most people know to avoid or kill most snakes they see. This is not the case with dogs.
Your argument is retarded.

[Edited on May 26, 2008 at 12:36 AM. Reason : .]

5/26/2008 12:35:20 AM

people don't know how to kill dogs? that's news to me.

your argument is retarded.




whew that was an easy argument

5/26/2008 12:40:46 AM

Quote :

"If you lock someone in a bare room with a Black Mamba, Im pretty sure most people are going to lose that fight."

I suspect it'd be a double kill. I don't believe black mamba venom incapacitates instantly. In any case, you're never going to encounter a mamba in a bare room. A simple stick or rock would give the human good odds of surviving. Of course, there'd be no reason to fight. Mambas don't come after people, they attack when cornered. Some dogs will hunt you down and kill you.

5/26/2008 12:41:25 AM

GV
Cats can and do kill. They can carry some nasty diseases. And no one is asking any of you dumbfucks to treat a copperhead like a family pet and it is very often stray dogs that do the killing not the family pet. Just leave them the fuck alone and surprise they will leave you alone.

[Edited on May 26, 2008 at 1:27 AM. Reason : S]

[Edited on May 26, 2008 at 1:31 AM. Reason : adfasdf]

5/26/2008 1:27:07 AM

An armed human is the most deadly animal on this planet.

When targeted at range, human vs. beast with thermonuclear warhead is a usual certainty unless confronting fourth dimensional animals which would shift their presence out of our dimension and slaughter us from behind. Considering that this hasn't happened, I doubt we have much to worry about.

A human with a staff is powerful, a human with a spear is to be feared by most any beast, a human with a rifle can kill anything they damn well please.

5/26/2008 1:34:56 AM

Quote :

"Just leave them the fuck alone and surprise they will leave you alone. "

You mean exactly like a stray cat or dog? dumbfuck

5/26/2008 10:17:46 AM

Generally, yes. Some dogs, however, will hunt you down.

5/26/2008 10:28:44 AM

You can't control a snake. You can control your own car and what you do on a soccer field, or whatever fucking stupid analogy you want to come up with.

If I'm a parent and my 5 year old is playing in the yard and there is a copperhead or some other venomous snake slithering around, I fully advocate chopping its head off. I'm not afraid of snakes...I use to play with green snakes all the time when I was a kid. But a venomous snake is a venomous snake. If I'm in the woods taking a stroll, I leave it alone...this is its home. But if its messing around in a yard where my kids are playing, then its gone.

5/26/2008 10:29:33 AM

Why not simply move the snake instead? With copperheads, this happens to be quite easy. All you need is a bucket, trashcan, or similar container. Then you can show the child a beautiful animal and teach them, by example, to respect life.

5/26/2008 10:34:37 AM

Because the snake could come back and bite my kid another day.

5/26/2008 10:53:59 AM

5/26/2008 11:23:41 AM

I've sorta half-read this thread and I've just stepped in to say those in defense of venomous snakes in people's backyards are retarded. I will kill those things on sight, there is no reason to have them hanging around.

5/26/2008 12:08:07 PM

5/26/2008 1:26:51 PM

Quote :

"Because the snake could come back and bite my kid another day."

Unlikely. Get in your car and take it to relatively wild area some miles away. Of course, even this isn't particularly necessary. Living alongside copperheads shouldn't cause you any problems. Sure, you might step on one by chance. So? It's an insignificant risk. We live with risks every day. Don't worry about it.

5/26/2008 1:44:21 PM

or......you could kill it

5/26/2008 4:57:12 PM

but the point is there is a much greater chance you or your child could be run over by a car, mauled by a dog, struck by lightning, and you don't see massive crusades against those things. If you are that concerned by wildlife go live in the middle of the asphalt shithole city. Then you will only have to deal with things like cars and other people.

Quote :

"You can control your own car and what you do on a soccer field, or whatever fucking stupid analogy you want to come up with. "

So your point is that because you are in control of your car you can't die in it? OK I guess people die and get hurt because they want to.
"About 115 people die every day in vehicle crashes in the United States -- one death every 13 minutes"

"Five to ten deaths occur per year from snakebite in the United States. People provoke bites by handling or even attacking snakes in a significant number of cases in the United States."

These are the facts. Life is dangerous but snakes really aren't.

5/26/2008 5:34:02 PM

Quote :

" So your point is that because you are in control of your car you can't die in it?"

The lack of reading comprehension on this site is just ridiculous.

Quote :

"Get in your car and take it to relatively wild area some miles away."

And you've got to be fucking kidding me. The day copperheads are put on the endangered species list I'll do something like this. But you expect people with no experience handling venomous snakes to try and capture one, put it in a car, and release it in the wild miles away? BRILLIANT!!

5/26/2008 5:40:19 PM

You don't have to even touch a snake to move it. It is no more dangerous to move the copperhead than to kill it. I deal with venomous snakes all the time never been bit. Most people I know who do move copperheads and other venomous snakes have never been bit or had a close call. The only bites I have seen have all been a direct result of handling.

Quote :

"The lack of reading comprehension on this site is just ridiculous."

The lack of ability to defend your own statement is ridiculous. Your ability to control your own car (which btw is not always the case but that isn't even worth going into) does not make it safe. You always have to deal with things that you cannot directly control the most dangerous of which is other people and their tools to kill and maim you (cars, guns, knives, etc.)

5/26/2008 5:50:41 PM

There's a reason why damages resulting from accidents with wild animals are enforced with strict liability in the legal world...because no one has any control whatsoever with them. You have control over a car if you are at fault in an accident, and someone else has control over the other car if they are at fault in the accident. Other than bad weather or "acts of god"...there is some form of control in driving vehicles or the other accidents that you're mentioning.

In encounters with snakes, its usually someone accidentally stepping on one while they are doing yardwork or playing in the backyard. Its usually not due to their fault or negligence. If I've got kids and there is a copperhead hanging around in my yard, that risk is going to get eliminated. And I'm not going out of my way to put one in a fucking box or burlap sack when there are plenty left in the woods to take its place. Are you going to take that roach that you found in your bathroom and go place it in the woods a mile from your house (if you answer yes to this question, then there is no point in arguing, we just have completely different viewpoints)??

5/26/2008 6:02:40 PM

Quote :

"Its usually not due to their fault or negligence."

actually the vast majority of snake bites happen when people are trying to molest or kill the snake. And if you step on a snake and get bit it is because you are not watching where you put your feet and are not wearing shoes (copperheads cannot bite through your average tennis shoe contrary to popular opinion). Both those sound like things that you are in control of! If you are living in a situation where you have a copperhead in your yard you will have more. Killing the one you see will not get rid of the ones that you do not see. The only responsible thing to do is to educate your kids to watch where they put your hands and feet and you do the same. If the risk is still to scary for you and your offspring go live in the city where it is "safe".

5/26/2008 6:13:37 PM

move this thread to the fucking soapbox.

5/26/2008 6:39:19 PM

^We'll have to agree to disagree. Every encounter I've ever had with a snake growing up has been when when I was going to get a basketball/soccer ball in the bushes woods or when someone threw a baseball behind a pile of wood and I or someone else went to retrieve it. When you are at a stop sign, you look both ways because there are usually cars coming in both directions. You don't expect to see snakes in your yard everyday, so you don't usually check the bushes before you reach in to get the basketball.

Even if you tell your 8-year old kid to "watch out for snakes"...you think they are going to proceed with caution with every step they take in the yard or in the woods on the outside of the yard?? Hell no. And you seem to be the snake expert, but I've never heard of anyone getting bit by a snake when they were taking the shovel to its head (but I imagine someone would have a larger possibility of getting bit if they tried to put a snake in a bag and drop it off a mile away).

5/26/2008 6:43:34 PM

How many times have you been bit in your encounters when you were a kid? Learning to be cautious in nature is something everyone needs to learn just like every kid needs to learn to be careful on the street. Instead of killing with that shovel you could just as easily scoop it up into a five gallon bucket no more danger. Hell I get calls all the time to do just that for other people. Regardless it is a false sense of security killing or removing the snake because where there is suitable habitat for one snake there will be others.

5/26/2008 6:53:05 PM

You're saying that most snake related injuries happen when people try to move/handle or kill the snake, but then right afterwards you're saying to move the snake.

5/26/2008 7:31:28 PM

honestly i think its pretty clear the people that automatically want it dead are retarded, and the people talking about not killing it are reasonable

5/26/2008 7:32:26 PM

See if your point is correct, if there really are likely to be other dangerous varmits given the proximity of the observed snake then I would guess the course of action most reasonable people would endorse would be to find a way to feed those other snakes poisoned food. At least that is what I'd aim for. If all Rattlesnakes and cotton mouths etc... were extinct what would it matter anyway? I say kill em all.

5/26/2008 7:56:46 PM

luckily snakes aren't very easily poisoned because they don't really respond to bait. Plus if you are that scared of wildlife why not just move to your nice safe clusterfuck cities. Leave the wild places to the rational people.

Quote :

"You're saying that most snake related injuries happen when people try to move/handle or kill the snake, but then right afterwards you're saying to move the snake. "

Well if you are gonna take the risk fucking with it instead of leaving it alone you might as well move it.

5/26/2008 8:58:28 PM

I don't know if that been noted yet, but that guy in the original video sounds just like the squid from squidbillies.

5/26/2008 9:08:14 PM

Quote :

"I don't know if that been noted yet, but that guy in the original video sounds just like the squid from squidbillies."

Hell I'm out of prison, I'm Unknown Hinson

5/26/2008 10:38:11 PM

You know, marriage with snakes is not legal in NC, just saying.

5/26/2008 11:16:32 PM

Quote :

"Do you have evidence that US snakes pose a greater risk than I've claimed? If you do, please provide it. Snake bites kill five to ten people per year in this country (see http://www.emedicinehealth.com/snakebite/article_em.htm. That's almost nothing. As I've shown, death rates are equivalently low in Australia and parts of Africa."

Parts of Africa? What's that supposed to mean? The parts that don't have many venomous snakes?

I hope you realize that upwards of 20,000 people die every year in Africa due to snake bites. And the number is a lot higher in Asia.



[Edited on May 27, 2008 at 2:41 AM. Reason : 2]

5/27/2008 2:37:56 AM

Quote :

"A variety of poisonous snakes kill 50,000 Indians a year."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/5314104.stm


[Edited on May 27, 2008 at 3:05 AM. Reason : ]

5/27/2008 3:04:30 AM

Quote :

"but the point is there is a much greater chance you or your child could be run over by a car, mauled by a dog, struck by lightning, and you don't see massive crusades against those things."

I'm pretty sure that more kids are bitten by snakes every year than struck by lightning. Also, there are steps taken to keep kids from being run over by cars. Also, most families with kids don't have dogs, or get rid of them when they have a small child. A kid is more likely to die from one bite from a snake than from being mauled by a dog. And stop acting like venomous snakes are harmless. I can probably go find dozens of sites with pictures of peoples losing fingers or being harmed drastically from the poison of snakes.

I'm not saying its right to go around killing them, but you can hardly blame people, especially those with small kids. Its not worth the risk to leave it alone and let it stay in your yard, or to try and move it to another area.

5/27/2008 3:13:21 AM

exactly. i don't think anyone in 3 pages has said to actively go out and find snakes to kill them. the subject is the confrontation, and it's RATIONAL to kill a snake. i can't believe you people seriously think it's a better idea to try to pick a venomous or poisonous snake up.

5/27/2008 3:23:34 AM

what a pissing match



my spitting cobra is longer

5/27/2008 8:30:51 AM

This thread inspired me to kill a snake that was in my yard last night actually....

I'm with Indiana Jones "I hate snakes!"

5/27/2008 9:38:16 AM

Quote :

"A kid is more likely to die from one bite from a snake than from being mauled by a dog. And stop acting like venomous snakes are harmless. I can probably go find dozens of sites with pictures of peoples losing fingers or being harmed drastically from the poison of snakes."

1) I promise you that more children are killed or seriously injured by dogs every year.
2) No one said venomous snakes are harmless. We just know that walking away from them is far more safe than trying to kill it.
3) Snakes don't have poison, they have venom.
4) The pictures of people losing limbs/fingers are likely the result of people getting bit by their pets (Yes, people own mambas, cobras, etc). Now you can then argue as to their reasons for having these potentially deadly pets but hey, to each his own. Owning snakes is something you cant really explain to people that dont own any themselves.

Of course, venomous snakebites are medically serious issues but many people are bit by sheer bad luck (Never saw the snake) or because they were dumb enough to pick it up and/or try to kill it. If you see one and walk the other direction, your chance of being bitten by that snake is 0.

5/27/2008 1:49:06 PM

Quote :

"Parts of Africa? What's that supposed to mean? The parts that don't have many venomous snakes?"

According to the link I gave earlier, as well as other sources, few people die from snake bites in southern Africa. Here's another source:

Quote :

"Humans kill many more snakes than snakes kill humans and you are statistically more likely to be struck by lightning or kicked to death by a donkey than to die of snakebite. More people die of human bites in South Africa than of snake bites..."

http://www.paramedicsa.co.za/paranews/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9

Quote :

"I hope you realize that upwards of 20,000 people die every year in Africa due to snake bites. And the number is a lot higher in Asia."

I'm quite aware of that. That's why I said parts of Africa.

5/27/2008 2:19:35 PM

Quote :

"Humans kill many more snakes than snakes kill humans"

I fucking hope so. The day these numbers get even close to each other...then something is wrong.

5/27/2008 2:42:09 PM

I'm giving up on this thread...

5/27/2008 2:44:46 PM

Quote :

"The day these numbers get even close to each other...then something is wrong."

They should both be zero.

5/27/2008 3:35:27 PM

so why are people saying not to pick it up? i've picked up many a poisonous snake before...hasnt anyone ever watched the croc hunter? u get a stick, press it on their head, and pick it up at the tail...were is the difficulty in that...how is shooting it more rational than that

5/27/2008 10:15:41 PM

I just take a shovel and cut their heads off and watch them wiggle for another 10 hours...

5/27/2008 11:20:30 PM

http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200880528092

[Edited on May 30, 2008 at 12:32 AM. Reason : granted her IQ was probably less than her age!]

5/30/2008 12:31:33 AM

thanks to this thread, i had a snake nightmare last night. it got me.

5/30/2008 8:43:16 AM

my parents live in knightdale and they called me a few weeks ago saying they killed a cottonmouth in their yard, i'm pretty pissed



We killed a copperhead in the yard once and I felt dumb about it after I met a girl who had stepped on a young one and been bitten. she had a weird scar but had no health complications otherwise. nobody dies from being bitten by a copperhead, quit killing them. They are very sluggish during the day and have no chance to escape when you come to murder them in their sleep.

5/31/2008 4:36:52 AM

speaking of copperheads one came out of the brush on dan allen under the bridge the train runs over (he just chilled there on the walkway)

quite a suprise for me and several gamecocks fans after the game

5/31/2008 4:55:19 AM