Michael Swickard
The facts are simple. David pulled up to his house and noticed a rattlesnake in his driveway. He killed the rattlesnake to protect his family. No, he did not try to get along with the rattlesnake or pick it up and move it to the yard of someone else. He killed it exactly as I would have done.
I was rather amazed when reading his column in the Las Cruces Bulletin that he would admit killing a Rio Grande High Mountain Desert Southwest Chihuahuan Wilderness Silvery Mexican Gray varmint rattlesnake. People add all sorts of extra names to ordinary varmints such as rattlesnakes to make them seem exotic. Also, they have been saying that rattlesnakes are not dangerous to our grandbabies when in fact they are.
Well, he did kill the rattlesnake and wrote about it. I salute him. There are those people who think that rattlesnakes can coexist with grandbabies. Not so. Most of us kill varmints without public comment since there are wingnuts out there who weep copious tears and want us to walk around rattlesnakes at our peril. I was raised differently.
I have three rules about varmints such as rattlesnakes: First, if I see them anywhere around my house or my family’s ranch house I kill them. If I see them around civilization I often will kill them so as not to leave the danger for other people. If I see them anywhere else such as in the desert I strictly leave them alone.
Contrary to some people’s thoughts I do not hate nor fear rattlesnakes. At our family ranch south of Carrizozo I have thinned them out all of my life. As a child I pointed them out to my grandfather who killed them before they could kill me. Out in the desert I have left them alone all of my life. But, around the people I love I do not hesitate to act.
Now there is no joy in killing things in my life. I do not sport hunt, though I think that a personal preference and beyond the control of environmentalists who would ban such activities. One of the most interesting guests on my former talk radio show attempted regularly to sell the concept that caterpillars have the same constitutional rights and guarantees as humans. He did not convince me.
Back to rattlesnakes, which are found even in town. I would prefer to leave them alone, but I have a duty to those I love, a duty to humans that supersedes environmentalist concerns about the rights of rattlesnakes. Further, do not EVEN try to make the case that rattlesnakes will not bite or that the bite will not be an emergency. It does not sell with me.
Obviously, there needs to be an urban wildlife plan in Southern New Mexico to give guidance to the mix of potentially dangerous critters and people. Here is my take: I protect myself, my loved ones AND my pets from all wildlife. Period. The priority is humans first, pets second, varmints last.
That means the rattlesnakes, coyotes, foxes, bobcats, mountain lions, bears and wolves do not get to hang out in my backyard. If there is a law that they have priority over my life and my grandbabies I will go to jail killing the dangers in my backyard. Again, if they are out in the desert, we pass without comment.
Bears especially do come into our neighborhoods occasionally and this is where the urban wilderness plan must be specific: Humans have priority. The problem with bears is if you anesthetize Yogi and drop him in another’s bear’s territory in the great outback of New Mexico there is going to be at least one dead bear since they will fight to the death. It is either Yogi or the other bear who will die, but we pay no attention to the real outcome and seem to feel good that we dealt with the bear in such a “humane” manner.
Hence, let us be honest. When wildlife comes in contact with us at our houses, we either put them in a zoo or in the ground. Humans have the priority in our little slice of heaven, especially grandbabies.
Swickard is a weekly columnist for this site. You can reach him at michael@swickard.com. The information about bears in this column comes from Rink Sommerday, a frequent guest from the Chihuahuan Desert Nature Center east of Las Cruces. She spoke of bears and problems with relocating bears often as it was part of her background.
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