Killer rattler in yard protected species
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| Fri, 05-07-2004 - 9:42am |
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/printedition/chi-0405070213may07,1,1212966.story?coll=chi-printnews-hed
STANTON, MICHIGAN -- An 85-pound dog was fatally bitten in its back yard by a venomous snake protected by the state, which will neither try to remove the snake nor allow the pet's owner to kill it.
The reptile that killed Janis Hoople's 5-year-old black Labrador retriever last week was identified as an eastern massasauga rattlesnake, also known as a Michigan rattler. It is the state's only native poisonous snake.
Hoople said when she sought advice from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, she was told that the state has made it illegal for anyone to kill the rare snake. The eastern massasauga is a candidate for federal protection.
"They suggested we move it," Hoople told The Daily News of Greenville for a Thursday story. "But where do we move it to?"

>"An 85-pound dog was fatally bitten in its back yard....... "<
I have to ask........ what part of the dog's anatomy is the back yard? ;)
>"neither try to remove the snake nor allow the pet's owner to kill it."<
I think I would have asked someone to
None, but you can be sure if the family or an organization moved the sake, and anyone or their pets were bitten by that type of snake in the area, they'd be sued.
Renee
Maybe the EPA? Whoever deemed this reptile protected? Or would it be an act of God, like your neighbours tree falling on your house?
Information about the snake
http://midwest.fws.gov/endangered/reptiles/conserve.html
As for the news report of the dog being bitten, I'm puzzled.
Elaine