People are to blame for recent rash of Massasauga snakebites in Ontario:[Final Edition]
Bill Currie.  Standard St. Catharines, Ont.:Aug 13, 2002.  p. A5 

People:	Frohlich, Kim
Author(s):	Bill Currie
Article types:	News
Section:	Local News
Publication title:	Standard. St. Catharines, Ont.: Aug 13, 2002.  pg. A.5
Source Type:	Newspaper
ISSN/ISBN:	08373434
ProQuest document ID:	266636271
Text Word Count	270
Article URL:	http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?RQT=309&VInst=PROD&VName=PQD&VType=PQD&Fmt=3&did=000000266636271&clientId=17280

Abstract (Article Summary)

If you're bitten by a Massasauga rattlesnake, you probably deserve it. You're likely drunk and chasing the retreating reptile or poking at a cornered snake with a stick, said Kim Frohlich, of the Niagara Conservation Authority.

The Massasauga rattler is the only poisonous snake in the province. The brown and grey snake can grow up to a metre long. The only Massasauga habitats in Ontario are two large areas around Georgian Bay, Windsor and the Wainfleet area.

Full Text (270   words)

(Copyright The Standard (St. Catharines) 2002)

If you're bitten by a Massasauga rattlesnake, you probably deserve it. You're likely drunk and chasing the retreating reptile or poking at a cornered snake with a stick, said Kim Frohlich, of the Niagara Conservation Authority.

Frohlich said it is extremely unlikely an unmolested snake would attack, despite reported incidents of six Massasauga snakebites in the Georgian Bay area this summer.

"It does everything in its power to try and keep hidden from a person," Frohlich said.

The Massasauga rattler is the only poisonous snake in the province. The brown and grey snake can grow up to a metre long. The only Massasauga habitats in Ontario are two large areas around Georgian Bay, Windsor and the Wainfleet area.

The small, timid and slow-moving snake spends most of its life alone and in hiding. It his been on the federal threatened species list since 1991.

The snake's population is estimated to be in the thousands, but it has believed to have decreased by about 60 per cent in the past 10 years. Statistics on the number of Massasauga rattlers in the Wainfleet area from recent surveys were not available.

Massasauga snakes will use a defence mechanism of rattling its body to ward off potential predators. But they are not aggressive and will also do the most they can to avoid humans, Frohlich said.

"You have to actually poke at it or do something where it feels like it's threatened or cornered before it will actually strike," she said.

[Illustration]

Photo: Southam / The small, timid and slow-moving Massasauga rattlesnake, which is found in Wainfleet, spends its time trying to avoid humans. ;