OPP, Ala. — For 50 years, hunters have been tramping through piney woods and grassy fields in southern Alabama looking for Eastern diamondback rattlesnakes, which live in holes. The ones they find are yanked out and put on display at the two-day Opp Rattlesnake Rodeo. Afterward, they’re killed.
This year, the writhing, 8-pound snake in handler Scotty Short’s grip is part of the rodeo show. He holds up the rattler, using a metal hook to expose its long, curved fangs. Next year, the same reptile’s scaly hide might be a wallet or belt at a souvenir booth. Its severed, dried head or rattles might be trinkets at another display table.
The rattlesnake rodeo has made this sleepy town of 6,600 known all over the South — the 50th anniversary event drew about 25,000 people in March. Similar snake roundups are held in more than two dozen communities from Texas to Pennsylvania.
Supporters say it’s all in fun. The hunters get rid of a nuisance to many landowners; people pay to see their catch and learn about rattlers.
But environmentalists and reptile experts are pushing to end the roundups, particularly in the Southeast. There, they say, Eastern diamondback populations are declining to dangerously low levels, largely because of festivals like the annual hunt in Opp.
