On Wednesday, the Massachusetts Fisheries and Wildlife Board voted unanimously to suspend a plan to establish a colony of timber rattlesnakes on Mount Zion, at 1,400 acres, the largest island in Quabbin Reservoir.
The plans for the protected habitat have been shelved indefinitely after area residents raised strenuous objections over their own safety from the venomous creatures. Critics of the plan were worried that the snakes would swim off the island and attack hikers, fishermen, and hunters, reports ABC News.
Digital Journal reported on the state’s unique plan to save their endangered timber rattler in February 2016.
When the project was announced in early 2016, Tom French who is with the state Division of Fisheries and Wildlife and is directing the project at the 39-square mile Quabbin Reservoir, said that he received a number of emails and telephone calls from people worried about the snakes.
“People are afraid that we’re going to put snakes in a place of public use and that they are going to breed like rabbits and spread over the countryside and kill everybody,” he said. “There is no plan to deny public access to the Quabbin Reservoir, and concerns that snakes will leave the island and threaten humans are unfounded,” French added, at that time.
Actually, state herpetologists say there are only 200 to 400 timber rattlers left in the state, and will not reveal the locations of the colonies. Not only are there very few of the creatures left in the wild, the idea of the snakes slithering after and attacking someone is ridiculous. Timber rattlers, like many snakes, are timid creatures and will only fight back if provoked.
At a public hearing in Ware on March 23, about 100 people turned out to discuss the proposed habitat for one last time. Priscilla Maglio traveled from Marshfield to attend the meeting. She had a whole slew of questions for the 14-member Rattlesnake Review Working Group that hosted the meeting.
“Are there more than we know about? What kind of survey was done? Have we actually surveyed how many rattlesnakes we have here in Massachusetts?” she asked the panel. However, Marty Fedor was more direct, saying, “Don’t you dare put these snakes in Mount Tom.”
