There aren’t lots of people who could be pleased to seek out an undesirable snake of their home or yard, however there’s an Alabama group that may be pleased to assist take away it.
Frankie Ferguson and Mark Hay based Alabama Snake Removers, a volunteer organization that helps relocate all species of snakes all through the state, in 2013. Ferguson mentioned their motivation for providing the service was fairly easy — they needed to cease snakes from being killed.
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“I was already getting calls before we started Alabama Snake Removers,” mentioned Ferguson. “So me and Mark [Hay] decided we’d try to keep people from killing the snakes and help people relocate them instead because most of them are harmless.”
Ferguson mentioned for the reason that group, which has round eight volunteers unfold all through the state and greater than 11,000 followers on Facebook, was created, they’ve helped take away and relocate a whole bunch of snakes, with the Dekay’s Brown Snake and Gray Rat Snake being the most typical.
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While many individuals purchase a concern of snakes from an early age, Ferguson and Hay have beloved them since they had been young, and Ferguson mentioned they’re dedicated to serving to snakes, and the individuals who concern them within the course of.
“Mark and I have had a passion for snakes ever since we were kids,” mentioned Ferguson. “We became friends around 12, and we were catching snakes and keeping snakes then. I’ve caught thousands, and I’ve never seen one that just wanted to attack you. There are just a lot of folklore associated with them here in Alabama that’s not true.”
That mentioned, not the entire calls obtained by the organization are for innocent snakes. Snake elimination is a harmful job, which is why Ferguson mentioned volunteers will need to have expertise with snakes and perceive correct snake dealing with previous to responding to calls, particularly since volunteers may not know what sort of snake — or what number of — they’re coping with till they arrive.
“Last year, Mark [Hay] did a removal where there was a child’s play area and they saw a snake,” mentioned Ferguson. “It turned out there was five or six copperheads all around the area. [The caller] didn’t see but one at the time, so sometimes we get into more than we think we are.”
That mentioned, Ferguson feels that no matter what sort of snake it’s, it’s essential to know that all of them serve a goal and within the majority of instances, relocation is the higher possibility.
“The biggest misconception with snakes is that they’re all bad and the only good one is a dead one,” mentioned Ferguson. “They’re very beneficial to the eco-system. They’re a large eliminator of ticks, fleas and diseases that rodents can carry, and there’s a lot of medical benefits. They’re not just here as a nuisance.”
So if you end up within the presence of a snake, and would reasonably not be, you possibly can attain out to Alabama Snake Removers for help. Ferguson mentioned one of the simplest ways to make contact is by sending a message to their Facebook web page. In most instances, all of the organization expenses for the service is a small relocation payment to cowl the value of fuel for the volunteer.
