Urban Rattlesnakes: Nuisance or Treasure?
Few creatures in America are more feared or more misunderstood than the rattlesnake. This venomous reptile still thrives in rural areas, especially in the arid and semi-arid regions of the Western United States. Generally, the rattlesnake does not do well around areas where there is a great deal of human activity. In urban areas, the rattlesnake has been persecuted as a threat to homeowners, their children and their pets. Furthermore, road mortality decimates snake populations in areas where there is constant traffic. Bounties were once placed on the rattlesnake in many areas of the country, especially in settled areas. Although, snake management has become more enlightened, and bounties have been lifted in most areas, frightened homeowners and unobservant drivers still take a heavy toll on urban snake populations. In many cities where rattlesnakes were once present, they have been extirpated.
Urban Strongholds: Major Cities Where Rattlesnakes Still Hang On
Despite continued persecution, rattlesnakes still can be surprisingly common in some major cities. Habitat destruction has all but eradicated rattllesnake populations in many cities, but snakes still manage to escape notice in many rocky areas of big cities like Los Angeles, San Diego, Tucson, Phoenix, San Antonio, Austin and Salt Lake City. In most of these cities, snake populations manage to hold on in the face of urbanization, especially along the edges of the cities and in areas of suitable microhabitat in municipal parks and preserves. In the suburban Denver town of Aurora, prairie rattlesnakes posed enough of a threat to pets that they eventually prevailed in closing the city's dog park.