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Was I right? Taking some heat...

Was it O.K. to move the Banded Water?

  • Yes, that instance was like a rescue.

    Votes: 13 30.2%

  • Yes, relocating and maybe saving him will not spin the Earth off its axis.

    Votes: 30 69.8%

  • No, by relocating him you've thrown the ecosystem out of balance.

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • No, you should have left him to his fate.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    43
  • Poll closed .
Cflaguy

Cflaguy

Old School Snakeman
I'm getting some geers from some of the folks at the Reptile Shack for this situation that occurred this evening after the first road cruise of the season.
They are a bit more "pure" than I am. Really into the planet and enjoying all that grows if you know what I mean.
But anywho-
This evening I found a baby Banded Water (6") crossing the road. Ordinarily not being a desirable pet snake I just set them on the other side of the road and leave. It is the dry season here in Florida and no water near him. He was slightly dehydrated. I took him to a flatwoods pond in the forest. I sat him down and he hauled a** to edge of the water. He stopped and drank for about two minutes. Then took the plunge.
Some of the folks at the Shack think I'm a horrible person. According to them I should have left him there and let nature take its course.
Just interested on opinions of today. When I was younger, we always helped animals in distrees. Have things changed?
Did I do the right thing?
 
You did the right thing. I believe that "God sees the little sparrow fall" and that we are responsible for the care and well-being of all the creatures on earth, and that there is a big ledger somewhere, and that those of us who go out of our way, go to extremes, even, to help God's creatures are taken into account down the line. And those that don't- they get black marks.

Nanci
 
Can't rep ya Nanci...

I haven't spread myself around enough.
Hope to see ya on the morrow.
Goods words BTW.
 
I would of done the same; the golden rule doesnt apply just to humans. Big good Karma points to you.

I go out of my way to rescue worms from puddles in roads and flies trapped indoors. Letting nature take its course in this instance doesnt make much sense for with that logic having a road through the snakes habitat is unnatural. The road shouldnt be there in its way, the car shouldnt be there to threaten him, so you have every right to rescue him and keep him where nature intended him.
 
I think you did the right thing. It is different than an animal that has been attacked as prey. I would leave one like that to it's fate. But an animal that is struggling, yet has a chance...at least give it the chance.

Would your friends have left juvenile sea turtles to dehydrate and die on the beach come sunrise? Or would they have helped them into the water?

Sometimes, I believe that we "stumble across" animals that need our assistance. If we don't assist, we are just as guilty as if we had killed them ourselves. Sometimes, no matter how much help you are prepared to give, it won't matter. But there are the rare occasions where just a little push in the right direction is all an animal needs to turn a life-threatening situation into a long life.

Heap Big Karma...
 
I think there is sometimes a danger in uneducated people trying to "do good deeds" for injured/ seemingly helpless animals.

Sometimes, in trying to help, humans can actually do more harm than good.


But in this case, I doubt anything bad came of it, and I think it was the right thing.
 
What you moved him!?!?! No, no no... how cruel, can't you see he wanted to die in peace?

Ok, all joking aside, I truly think you did the right thing. It's not like you brought him home, tortured him for 7 months with poor housing conditions, stressed him out by touching and poking him 5 times every hour. You simply helped him back to where he belongs. Don't let them get you down.

Now, where are the pics of the rescue!? j/k

Jenn
 
I would have done the same thing. It's obvious you saved the little guy from a tortorous death by either dehydration or more then likely gettin run over by a car. I don't know how the people at work could say what they did. After all wasn't in the same general area where you let him go? And aren't that particular snake native to the area you brought him to?
 
Good questions...

snakemom1961 said:
I would have done the same thing. It's obvious you saved the little guy from a tortorous death by either dehydration or more then likely gettin run over by a car. I don't know how the people at work could say what they did. After all wasn't in the same general area where you let him go? And aren't that particular snake native to the area you brought him to?
Click to expand...
and part of the reason some folks had a problem. Banded waters are all over the place in Florida. Their philosophy is the loss of one (Nature's selection) would be O.K.. I relocated about a mile from where I found him.
Lefty I tried to rep ya but I haven't spread myself around enough. :rolleyes:
 
Isn't that what being a good Samaritan is all about? I agree with the karma comment earlier...what comes around, goes around, and you did a good thing by helping out.

I understand about Nature needing to take its own course, but it's not like you bred the snake & then let all of its babies go, so as to throw that snake's population out of whack...or like what is going on in the Everglades with the Burmese pythons. Now that's messing with Mother Nature...!
 
I'd rep you if I could. Personally I've fledged quite a few baby birds over the years, the best ever was a whole brood of bluetits (I think you'd call them titmice) abandoned due to some cable installers. Along with our toad rescue and a couple of injured hedgehogs, I don't see that helping an animal native to the area and releasing it to take its chances in a more suitable environment would be anything but good. But then I'm a softy.
 
hmm

There was nothing wrong with what you did.
Are you saying they think what you did was wrong because there are too many banded watersnakes in the area and therefor it should die?
For all you or anyone else knows, an egret or heron could have eaten it an hour after you released it.
You gave it a chance. Nothing wrong with that.
Next thing you know they will be going from letting it die because they are abundant to killing it because they are abundant.
Do you feel you did the right thing? That's all that matters anyway. No matter what they say or what we say.
 
Oh noez! In giving an animal with the will to live a fighting chance, you may not have caused any earth shattering damage in the US, but you HAVE caused unforseeable damage in Scotland.

The dogs are meowing, the cats are barking and well the birds ain't sining. I sure hope that little bugger is alive and well :grin01:
 
Moving one water snake certainly isn't going to destroy an ecosystem... especially one that they naturally occur in. It's not like you pocketed him and carried him to Hawaii.... :rolleyes: People are whack-o sometimes!!
 
I have a degree in wildlife management and deffinatelly see where some other people may be coming from, but I highly doubt a move of a small water snake about 1 mile will do anything negative, or positive for the area it left or went to. If it made ya feel good, then great.
 
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