Why'd it have to be snakes?

Montanans worried that the state is going to put bison, wolves and grizzly bears in their backyards should be glad they don’t live in Massachusetts. Wildlife officials there plan to establish a colony of timber rattlesnakes on an island in the state’s largest body of water.

According to the Associated Press, the plan has been in the works for several years and has the endorsement of Republican Gov. Charlie Baker.

There are only about 200 of the endangered snakes left in Massachusetts. Snakes raised at a zoo in Rhode Island will be placed on Mt. Zion, a 1,400-acre island in 39-square mile Quabbin Reservoir.

The island is off-limits to humans.

“We want one place where the impact of people is not part of the equation,” said Tom French of the state Division of Fisheries and Wildlife.

There are no plans, however, to deny public access to the reservoir. And why bother? Folks are terrified of snakes. The mere rumor of venomous serpents is deterrent enough.

A lot of people in Montana are convinced that there’s a diabolical plot afoot to rid the landscape of humans and replace them with wild animals. If that were true, buzzworms would be the ticket. Few folks would care to visit a rattle-snake refuge.

But there are no plans in the works to establish such a haven in Montana. The resident prairie rattler seems to be doing just fine.

Massachusetts residents were wary of the plan at first.

“People were afraid that we’re going to put snakes in a place of public use and that they’re going to breed like rabbits and spread over the countryside and kill everybody,” French said.

Opposition, however, is dying down.

“Once they started to look into the facts, people started to change their minds,” said Nancy Allen, chairwoman of the selectboard in Petersham, a town on the eastern shore of the reservoir.

Don’t expect that to happen here. Montanan’s put little store in facts that don’t support their conspiracy theories.

As divided as the state is over most wildlife policies, it’s a good bet that a rat-tlesnake reintroduction plan would be overwhelmingly opposed. Oh, there’d be dens of snake huggers in Missoula and Bozeman, but across the rest of the state rattlesnakes are generally reviled.

The prairie rattlesnake isn’t endangered in Montana.

Yet.

If and when that day comes, and the populace is told that extraordinary steps must be taken to save the snake, be sure that it’s all part of a much greater plan.

And we all know what that is.

Parker Heinlein is at

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