Removing rattlers to protect people
AUBURN, Placer County — From early March to late October, Len Ramirez, 60, has a sole focus — to catch rattlesnakes before they harm a human or a pet.
Based two hours northeast of San Francisco in Auburn (Placer County), he has operated Ramirez Rattlesnake Removal since 1985. During rattlesnake season, the California native is on call 24/7 and is willing to travel anywhere that a client reports a snake problem, but generally works between Napa Valley and Nevada County.
Ramirez’s interest in snakes started at an early age while he watched the popular television show “Wild Kingdom.” “It was my dream to be the savior of the Earth and save snakes,” he says.
With that dream in mind, Ramirez purchased a red shirt at age 14, applied an ironon decal that read “Rattlesnake Search and Rescue,” and bicycled around his Cupertino neighborhood looking for clients. His early foray into the business world didn’t pan out, so Ramirez concentrated on his other love, tennis.
Ramirez was a highly ranked junior and once battled a brash up and comer from New York named John McEnroe. Soon afterward, Ramirez settled into a role as tennis pro, which he held
until age 26. He then returned to a herpetological focus and established his business.
Ramirez concentrates specifically on the Northern Pacific and prairie rattlesnakes that frequent Northern California, but he has been called on to remove a black mamba and a cobra.
Last year, Ramirez captured and safely relocated more than 1,200 rattlesnakes. Once a week, he travels to an uninhabited remote forest north of his home to release the rattlesnakes into the wild to give them a chance to reach their normal expected life span of 25 years. “Part of my service is to defend rattlesnakes. I do not like to see them killed,” he says.
To stay safe in rattlesnake country, Ramirez recommends bringing dogs in at night to avoid confrontations with nocturnal snakes and carefully scouting property before working in the garden or sending children out to play.
If someone hears the distinctive rattle of a rattlesnake, Ramirez says to freeze and identify where the noise is coming from, take several steps back, out of danger, make sure there is not another in the vicinity, and then give him a call.
In his free time, Ramirez can be found tending
“Part of my service is to defend rattlesnakes. I do not like to see them killed . ... Every day is the best day for me because I am doing what I love.” Len Ramirez, rattlesnake wrangler
to his large collection of cacti or driving his Dodge Viper with the vanity plate R8TLSNK.
So, keep an eye out over the next three months for Ramirez, wearing his trademark cowboy hat and driving his bright red Dodge Ram pickup emblazoned with “Rattlesnake Wrangler” on the side. If you spot him, he most likely will have a smile on his face. “Every day is the best day for me because I am doing what I love,” he says. Scott Strazzante is a San Francisco Chronicle photographer. Watch a video at www.sfchronicle. com/theregulars. The Regulars is a photo and video column that offers a glimpse into the lives of ordinary people in the Bay Area, caught in routine activities of modern urban life.