I'm kind of angry about an article in our local paper today... while it was a horribly awful thing for a 13 year old boy to get almost fatally bitten by a rattlesnake, the paper presented the article with the general public's usual paranoia and negativity without any understanding at all for the snake...

First of all, just above the article in the actual paper (it doesn't appear in the online version) the headline reads "Attack". The use of the word "attack" makes it sound like the snake jumped out of the bushes and ambushed the young man. I'll give the paper a little bit of credit because at one point they did admit the snake was startled when the boy stepped on it...Had they not said it was startled, the whole article would have implied that the snake was simply acting in a hostile manner. Then the article says that "a hefty rattlesnake took two bites out of Alex's right leg"...I'd like to know when's the last time a snake was known to actually take bites out of someone's leg? That was really a poor choice of wording...Finally it stated that authorities went in search of the snake. Fortunately for the snake, they didn't find it as I'm sure they would have killed it.

Anyway, I'm extremely glad the young man survived, but I'm sad the snake world has received one more punch in the nose from a phobic nation. The article is here, if you'd like to read it:

http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/talla...l/12152002.htm

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~Juliane~

Another punch in the nose indeed. I'm just glad the snake escaped though He probably would have met his fate with a shovel or something had it been caught.

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+5 bonus points to whoever finds me a job!

"Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines." - John Benfield

Got to watch out for those snake attacks !!!!

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Ken
"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But, the Marines don't have that problem." -- Ronald Reagan

A better headline would have been

"Innocent Snake Defends Self After Being Stomped By Rampaging Giant Creature!"

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

Exactly!

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~Juliane~

Don't answer the door it may be a surprise snake attack. its been rumored they have been trained by alkyda
but seriously snakes will always get a bad rep from the general public, though it is amazing that in todays day and age people still fear what they have no clue about. id rather go up against a rattler than drive on a tire with low air pressure.

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Head bobs from Jorge, Jade, and Myself =)
http://community.webshots.com/user/steve38108

So sad! But papers always make it sound like in a horror movie and make the animal the bad one,just to make it more interesting to read and to give people the shivers. It's the same with sharks,which is such a misunderstood animal.Both,snakes and sharks,are more afraid of us than we are of them!

thats a shame. but i'm really glad the snake got away and that the boy is okay.

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yes i am a she ^_^

~My Babies~

1 Rosy Boa (male) Chaos
1 Snow Corn (male) Blizzard
1 Anertherystic Corn (male) Bullet
1 Senegal Parrot (male) Shadow
2 dogs (male) Spot and Bear

I agree with all the above comments, but what I'm curious about is this: Is that kid gonna be grounded for buying $40 worth of stuff with his Mom's cell phone?

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~~Steph

"This I believe: That the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world." John Steinbeck