PUBLICATION:
Toronto Star
DATE:
2004.09.11
SECTION:
National Report
PAGE:
H05
SOURCE:
Special to the Star
BYLINE:
Jerry Langton
ILLUSTRATION:
jerry langton PHoto The massasauga rattler is Ontario's
onlypoisonous reptile. But the snake is shy and unlikely to
bite unless threatened.
This snake's rattle may be worse than its bite
Georgian Bay <National> <Park> biologist Andrew Promaine thought it was
only fair to warn his hiking group. Since the area they were hiking through
was one of the few spots in Ontario where rattlesnakes still exist, and the
group didn't exactly strike him as very intrepid, he gave them a lecture on
how to identify a rattlesnake and what to do if confronted by one.
Shaken by the idea that potential killers were about, the hikers huddled
close to Promaine as they made their way around the trail. After a while,
the biologist - busy pointing out other flora and fauna - inadvertently
stepped over a small spotted snake hiding in the leaves. So did the next
three hikers.
"Uh, excuse me, Andrew," said the fourth hiker politely as she pointed
down. "Is this the snake we're supposed to be looking out for?"
It was, in fact, an eastern massasauga rattlesnake, the only poisonous
reptile in Ontario.
When French explorer Robert Cavalier Sieur de La Salle landed at what is
now Burlington, he described it as "abundant with horrible rattlesnakes as
thick as a man's arm." He was describing the massasauga's bigger, more
aggressive relative, the timber rattlesnake. Two metres long and readily
willing to defend itself, the timber rattlesnake quickly made enemies with
its new neighbours. By the end of the 19th century, organized gangs hunted
them when they were at their most vulnerable - in their shared hibernation
chambers. Although they are still common in the U.S., the last timber
rattlesnake found in Ontario was killed in 1941.
The massasauga has narrowly escaped the fate of its bad-boy brother by
flying under our radar. Shy to a fault and favouring the kind of
mosquito-infested wetlands that humans disdain, the massasauga usually
escapes notice. Rarely longer than the newspaper you're holding, the timid
snake preys on frogs and mice and is hunted by foxes and hawks.
Four populations of massasaugas survive in the province. Some remain in the
Ojibway Plains park near Windsor and a few more in the peat quarries of the
Wainfleet Bog in the Niagara Peninsula. More exist on the Bruce Peninsula
and the cottage-strewn swath from Parry Sound to Peterborough.
"When we first started tracking snakes with transmitters, we found a major
population just a couple of yards away from one of the main trails in
Killbear Provincial Park," Promaine says. "That's one of the busiest hiking
trails in the country and nobody had any idea the snakes were there."
That's not to say that they make great pets. A bite can kill. Two people in
Ontario have died of rattlesnake bites, the last in 1940. "There's no
reason a snake bite should be fatal since proper treatment is available all
over Ontario and is proven effective," says Andrew Lantini, a reptile
expert at the Toronto Zoo. Still, bites do happen, about two per year.
"For the most part, the people who get bitten are bothering the snakes -
the snake feels threatened, so it has to defend itself," Lantini says. "Of
course, accidents do happen, but I've been handling them every day for 12
years and I've never come close to being bitten."
The snakes know that their rattle is usually enough to scare away any
enemy.
Avoiding bites is easy: Leave the snakes alone. But those travelling in an
area with rattlesnakes will want to wear hiking boots and long pants.
Massasaugas are easy to identify. They have rectangular heads, a stout
build, dark brown patches on a light brown or gray body and a rattle.
"They kind of stand out, they're the only fat snake in Ontario," Lantini
says. "And the rattle, it's unmistakable. You won't confuse it with a
bumblebee or a hummingbird, you'll know it immediately."
You'll also know if you've been bitten. Victims describe a bite as similar
to getting a needle, followed by a tingling. Rattlesnakes can control the
amount of venom injected and since most human bites are warnings, the
majority of attacks on humans are dry bites in which none is encountered.
In the event of a bite, simply remain calm and get the victim to a hospital
quickly. Most hospitals in Ontario have antivenom serum. Methods learned
from cowboy movies, such as cutting or sucking the wound or applying a
tourniquet, can be harmful and should be avoided.
Still, confrontations are inevitable. If your reaction when face to face
with a rattlesnake is to whack it with a shovel, fight it. The maximum
penalty for killing one intentionally is a $25,000 fine, one year in jail,
or both.
But the survival of the massasauga in Ontario isn't really threatened by
the occasional panicky cottager. Like many species, the massasauga's future
is endangered by encroachment on its habitat. With prices skyrocketing in
popular cottage areas, developers have turned to less-desirable spots,
often in prime rattlesnake habitat.
Indicative of the increased encroachment on the snake's turf is the
extension of Highway 400.
"The construction took almost five years, including a period in which the
road was finished but unused so that we could study its affect on
wildlife," says Ministry of Natural Resources biologist Jeremy Rouse.
"Construction had some negative impact on populations, but it was a
one-time event and the snakes should bounce back."
Actually, it was pretty clean. There have only been two known fatalities -
one crushed by a falling rock and another squished under a truck.
"Whenever we find a dead snake on the highway, it's at a right angle to the
road," Rouse says. "They are definitely trying to cross the road."
Getting across the road may be essential. "The populations on each side of
the 400 may be too small to be self-sustaining," Rouse says. "In order to
maintain a viable population, they may have to share genetic information
with snakes on the other side."
Due to his research, the snakes have some options. Fences have been
installed to keep them off the road and to direct them toward culverts
under the road.
"We are learning from this research and are committed to reducing the
impact of the highway on the massasauga population," says Marlo Johnson of
the Ministry of Transport. "The ministry's contractor has constructed
gestation sites at 10 locations in the area of the newly four-laned
highway, in hopes that the snakes will establish alternative habitat."
Whether the extension affects fragile populations remains to be seen. But
it does show that if Ontario's rattlesnakes are to survive, humans will
have to intervene on their behalf.
"The massasauga is an integral part of our shared heritage," Lantini says.
"To lose it would be like losing the loon. It wouldn't be the same place,
it wouldn't be anywhere near as rich."'They kind of stand out, they're the
only fat snake in Ontario.