A wildlife partnership seeking to protect the Eastern Diamondback rattlesnake accomplished a great feat Wednesday when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that the snake might qualify for the Endangered Species Act.
Last August, the group filed a petition to protect the animal under the act, citing habitat destruction and “rattlesnake roundups” like the Opp Rattlesnake Rodeo as reasons for the demise of the snake. The filing is in response to the group’s petition.
Local biologist Mark Bailey said he believes the Fish and Wildlife Service has more species that are in trouble, but isn’t opposed to the measure.
“The rattlesnake population is declining,” he said. “They are absent from large portions of their habitat, but are probably not yet on the verge of extinction. I am certainly not opposed to the listing. They are in trouble and listing may indeed be warranted, but I can think of other species I might put ahead of the diamondbacks in terms of priority: Southern hognose snake, gopher frog and Eastern kingsnake.”
The Center for Biological Diversity’s reptile and amphibian specialist Collette Adkins said the diamondbacks are “rapidly disappearing.” “Eastern diamondbacks are rapidly disappearing all across the southeastern United States, and in some states they’ve more or less vanished,” she said. “They need Endangered Species Act protection to survive. The Endangered Species Act has a nearly perfect record of saving species on the brink of extinction – it’s our best tool for saving diamondbacks.”
From The Andalusia Star News: https://www.andalusiastarnews.com/2012/05/10/rattler-may-qualify-for-protection/