Rattlesnake ‘gassing’ issue stumps group
Committee can’t reach consensus on the practice
AUSTIN — More than a year after Texas Parks and Wildlife commissioners punted on a controversial proposal to ban the use of gasoline fumes to lure rattlesnakes out of hibernation, a working group they appointed to examine the matter has failed to come to a consensus.
At issue is the practice of “gassing,” in which gasoline is pumped or sprayed into caves and crevices to drive snakes from their winter dens for capture. The seized snakes are then featured in rattlesnake roundups, old-fashioned carnivals in which snakes might be put on display, “milked” for venom or used in daredevil stunts.
The commissioners appear to be in a political bind: Their own staffers have said gassing is a threat to other animals that live in the sinkholes, crevices and underground caverns found in wide swaths of the state. But rural lawmakers who represent towns with popular rattlesnake festivals have tried to stymie any ban.
Commercial collection of rattlesnakes, strongly associated with gassing, takes place in dozens of Texas counties, including Williamson, Burnet and Llano, according to the state parks department.
Not so fast
Decision-makers typically appoint working groups for political cover, often eventually adopting their recommendations.
But it appears that won’t quite work in this case.
“It became clear over the course of the meetings that universally accepted recommendations approved by the (snake harvest working group) as a whole would not be possible,” said a summary report put together this month by John Davis, director of the state parks department’s wildlife diversity program.
The group was made up of representatives of the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association; the Texas Wildlife Association (a property rights and land conservation group); the Texas chapter of the Wildlife Society (an organization of wildlife professionals, including biologists); several repre- sentatives of Sweetwater, the town near Abilene that’s home to the nation’s largest rattlesnake roundup; and a few herpetology enthusiasts, among others.
As long ago as 2012, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed petrochemical exposure as a threat to some of the tiny animals — spiders and the like — that live in limestone crevices.
A deeper look
A 2013 petition supported by biologists, zoologists, herpetologists and ecologists from Texas and other parts of the country triggered a closer look at the issue by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, eventually leading to the ban proposal.
But after hearings and thousands of public comments, as well as pushback from rural lawmakers and then-Gov. Rick Perry, the governor-appointed Parks and Wildlife commissioners backed off the proposed ban, tabling it in May 2014 and calling for the creation of the working group.
But the group was divided on key points of con- sideration. The statement that “the potential threats to populations of nontarget species may be best addressed by a statewide prohibition on gassing Western diamondback rattlesnake dens” won agreement from six members and disagreement from four, with one member undecided, the report on the working group’s findings said. (The group unanimously agreed that “snake-themed events are a long-standing tradition in some communities and provide social and economic benefits.”)
“I don’t perceive this as a failure or putting (the commissioners) in a bind or a box,” said Carter Smith, executive director of the agency. “It show there’s a wide variety of perspectives.”
Not all for it
At a work session this week, Commissioner Dick Scott sounded unwilling to entertain a ban. “I cannot support something that will have an impact on Sweetwater,” he said.
Ralph Duggins, the commission’s vice chairman, said he would “like to take time to digest the report,” which will be placed on the March agenda.
The commission is “not under an obligation to make a decision one way or another,” said Josh Havens, a spokesman for the state parks agency.