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Ontario's shy rattlesnake:[Final Edition] |
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Author(s): |
By
Walter Stefaniuk TORONTO STAR |
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Section: |
NEWS |
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Publication
title: |
Toronto
Star. Toronto, Ont.: Aug 20, 1996. pg. A.20 |
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Source
Type: |
Newspaper |
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ISSN/ISBN: |
03190781 |
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ProQuest
document ID: |
18675465 |
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Text
Word Count |
678 |
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Article
URL: |
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Abstract (Article Summary) |
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Probably fewer
than 20 are struggling to survive in pockets at Wainfleet Bog in the Niagara
region and Ojibway Prairie near Windsor, said Bob Johnson, curator of
reptiles and amphibians at the Metro zoo, who conducts an education program
to reassure cottagers about the massasauga. (Illustration courtesy of Metro
Toronto Zoo.) The stocky
reptile may grow up to three feet long (almost a metre) and has a rattle on
the end of its tail. It's brown-gray with blotches on top, usually of a
darker gray with white around it. The head is bigger than the tail, which
distinguishes it from a water snake, [James] Bogart said. It's called a pit
viper because of pits on the sides of the head that are heat detectors to
home in on potential prey, mostly small rodents. The last
recorded death from a massasauga rattler bite was that of a young woman in
1962, though files cite improper medical treatment. Don't fool with the massasauga
anyway. ``The poison is actually quite strong, but the snake is small and not
aggressive and the fangs are very short,'' Bogart said. |
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Full Text (678 words) |
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(Copyright The Toronto Star) Q Is the
massasauga rattler extinct now? A The
poisonous - but shy - massasauga rattlesnake was added to the threatened
species list in 1991. It's protected under the Ontario Game and Fish Act.
Fines for offences under the act range up to $25,000. But the timber
rattlesnake, Ontario's only other poisonous snake, hasn't been seen in the
province since 1919, said James Bogart of the University of Guelph, an
authority on reptiles and amphibians. Prior to 1984,
the massasauga's range was continuous around Georgian Bay. That's shrunk to
the Bruce Peninsula and on the eastern side of Georgian Bay to about
Manitoulin Island. Probably fewer
than 20 are struggling to survive in pockets at Wainfleet Bog in the Niagara
region and Ojibway Prairie near Windsor, said Bob Johnson, curator of
reptiles and amphibians at the Metro zoo, who conducts an education program
to reassure cottagers about the massasauga. (Illustration courtesy of Metro
Toronto Zoo.) The stocky
reptile may grow up to three feet long (almost a metre) and has a rattle on
the end of its tail. It's brown-gray with blotches on top, usually of a
darker gray with white around it. The head is bigger than the tail, which
distinguishes it from a water snake, Bogart said. It's called a pit viper
because of pits on the sides of the head that are heat detectors to home in
on potential prey, mostly small rodents. The last
recorded death from a massasauga rattler bite was that of a young woman in
1962, though files cite improper medical treatment. Don't fool with the
massasauga anyway. ``The poison is actually quite strong, but the snake is
small and not aggressive and the fangs are very short,'' Bogart said. Johnson noted
that every year deaths are reported from bear attacks, bee stings or auto
collisions with moose, but doubts there'll ever be another one blamed on the
massasauga. Getting bitten by the shy massasauga is unlikely and medical
treatment is fully effective today, he said. QUICK Q and A Do Canadian
athletes have to declare their medals won in international competition when
they come through customs? No. A special
provision in Canada's Customs Tariff Act exempts medals and trophies won on
behalf of the country from duty and GST. YES OR NO Do
you like the idea of a two-tiered health-care system for Canada? Dial (416)
868-3900 with your yes or no by 10 a.m. tomorrow. Results on Thursday. Care for
ailing Thursday's question was: Should the province rethink proposals to
close or amalgamate as many as 15 Metro hospitals? YES 90% NO 10% (410 calls) Yes. This will
surely lead to tragedy. Some patients are already suffering because they're
sent home too soon, and the overworked care-givers will burn out too soon. No. Like
everything else the government runs, these are bloated bureaucracies, a waste
of money. We should charge user fees for every service, just enough to
discourage the wasters who are so much a part of our medical system. If hospitals
are closed and families have to provide more care for their loved ones at
home, would they able to do this? What do they perceive to be the impact on
them as there won't be transitional care facilities to help out? No.
Duplications of costs must be eliminated. There are too many hospitals. Yes. Mike
Harris said medical care would not be cut if he was elected Premier. No. There are
too many and it is costing us a lot of money and we are in debt very badly
right now. Yes. The
politicians are dumping responsibility for closing hospitals on other
committees so these will get all the blame. These committees have not the
slightest idea on how to run a hospital. No. It hasn't
been thunk in the first place. CALENDAR Soviet Union
invades Czechoslovakia to crush the Prague Spring liberalization of Alexander
Dubcek's regime, 1968. Birth dates of
conductor Mario Bernardi, in Kirkland Lake, 1930; marathon swimmer Cindy
Nicholas, in Toronto, 1957. You Asked Us
appears on Tuesday and Thursday
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