NOXEN TWP. - Noxen has played host to a rattlesnake roundup since 1972, and on Saturday hunters brought 16 rattlers in to the fascination of area residents.
"It's by far our biggest fundraiser of the year," Noxen Fire Chief Lew
Hackling said regarding the event the fire company took over in 1986.
While the snake looking is free, the money is raised by food concessions, carnival rides, a flea market and a softball tourney.
But the fire company also uses the event to teach people about snakes.
"Rattlesnakes are not aggressive at all," Bill Wheeler announced to a Saturday afternoon crowd of around 100 visitors.
"That's why we're walking around here," he added as he pointed to the seven or eight snakes that curled along the fence line separating the snakes and their handlers from the onlookers.
Wheeler, president of the Keystone Reptile Club, took it upon himself today to answer questions posed by the young, the old and the slightly queasy.
Hackling said as many as 5,000 to 10,000 can be expected for the four-day fire carnival - if the weather holds out.
The last two days are reserved for bringing in snakes, and in addition to the rattlers brought in Saturday - with the largest a 53-incher tagged by Keith Mock of Noxen - Hackling said 22 other non-poisonous snakes were brought in between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. Saturday.
More will be brought in Sunday.
Wheeler's objective, he said, was to get people to understand that the rattlesnake, and its villainous counterpart, the copperhead, are simply not as dangerous as people thinks they are.
"They'll bite if you hurt them or if you surprise them," Wheeler said. "But the only snakes you hear about are the bad snakes."
In order to dispel some of the myths, Wheeler pointed out that it just isn't true that if you hear a rattle the snake is going to bite.
"I've been bitten five times and not once did they rattle first," he said.
But they are poisonous, he said. So it's important for people who hike through the woods to be on alert. That's particularly true for those hiking up mountains.
"Never stop paying attention," he told his audience. "Never go over a log before taking a gander at what's on the other side."
Mr. Wheeler also advised that any snake with a "big fat head" should be treated as if it were a poisonous snake.
He said that 36 hunters were involved in Saturday's roundup.
"But this isn't a 'kill em and grill em because somebody's going to get bit' kind of thing," he said. "We're pro snake."
The law requires that every snake caught must be returned to the precise location where it was caught by dusk Sunday evening.
The rattlesnake, he said, is a candidate for inclusion on the national-endangered species list.
Wheeler said that rattlesnake hunting season runs from the second week of June until July 31. Licenses for Pennsylvania residents cost $25. For out-of-state hunters, the price is $50.
Last year, there were only around 600 licenses issued, and only 80 of those rattlers were caught for consumption.
"The rest," he said, "were caught and released by sportsmen."