Rattlesnake Time

When I was a kid, the phone company replaced a phone pole right by our house. When they yanked the old pole out of the ground, there were rattlesnakes there in the pit! In Detroit! And I wasn't born in 1911 or some time when this would be typical.

I understood as a kid that Detroit may have a lot of faults, but rattlesnakes were not one of them. I'd never seen a live and up-close rattlesnake before - anywhere, let alone Detroit.

This memory flashed across my mind when I saw today's lead story in the Detroit Free Press by my favorite Free Press columnist, Mike Wendland (a certified good guy in 2Valuable's book):

Michigan is snake species' favorite locale, but don't be rattled

This photo is copyright Regina H. Boone/Detroit Free Press

Nowadays they are found further out from the city, especially in the counties on Detroit's northern border.

It's rattlesnake season in Michigan.

If you live near wetlands in southeastern Michigan, you probably have Eastern Massasauga rattlesnakes nearby. They're just waking up from winter. And they can be cranky.

Massasaugas are in danger of extinction in every state, except Michigan. There are so many here that Purdue University researchers are trying to figure out why.

"There are thousands and thousands of them around southeastern Michigan," Dr. Bruce A. Kingsbury, director of Indiana-Purdue University's Center for Reptile and Amphibian Conservation and Management in Ft. Wayne, Ind., said last week. "It's probably the last stronghold for the Eastern Massasauga rattlesnake."

Of course, with any interesting article, government has to get in the way and tick you off.

It's a misdemeanor in Michigan to kill one, punishable by up to 90 days in jail and a $500 fine.

A misdemeanor to kill a snake? Gee, that's good to know, although I don't really expect to run into another rattlesnake in Detroit - at least one that isn't a metaphor.

Side Note:
During the War of 1812,more soldiers died from rattlesnake bites on the march up from Northern Ohio to Detroit than died from actual fighting trying to keep Detroit in American hands.

American General William Hull, a hero in the Revolutionary War, eventually surrendered Detroit to British forces. The US won it back before the end of the war.