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Posted by Terry Vandeventer on September 09, 2001 at 08:22:20:
In Reply to: Re: sad day in Mississippi posted by Rob Carmichael on September 07, 2001 at 09:52:31:
Gentlemen,
I am Field Associate Herpetologist at the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science in Jackson, MS. We are the non-game research division of the Mississippi Dept of Wildlife, Fisheries & Parks and host the Mississippi Natural Heritage Program.
Not everyone here is sad about eastern indigos failing to get a foothold, if you will. We have only one bonafied record of the species in our state (Wayne County 1939). Dr. Dan Speake of the indigo recovery lab at Auburn University illegally released a number of genetically mixed, captive bred babies in southern Stone/northern Harrison Counties (0ne subadult was re-captured, examined and released a couple of rears later but now, nearly 20 years have passed and no more have been seen). For this he was reprimanded. Later he recieved permission to release more offspring in Marion County by the *Game* Division. We had virtually no sayso in the matter. None were ever observed after that day. The location is heavilly hunted by the public (deer, turkey) and much ongoing non-game research is in progress all of the time. Fortunately, no indigo snakes seem to have survived. All of the eggs brought to me have been ratsnake and possibly the exceedingly rare black pine snake (Only one pine has been observed on the site in the past 25 years!).
Both of these release sites were outside of the known range of indigos. The introduction of top-of-the-food-chain indigos offered direct competition to other rare species of concern, namely: black pines, eastern diamondbacks, coachwhips. Indigos compete with these species for shelter and food, and indeed, indigos eat these competitors! Granted, indigos share space with these and many other species to the east, but they have never been known to inhabit Mississippi (with the exception of the lone 1939 snake taken near the Alabama border).
Eastern indigos have a wide range and are thriving in at least a few areas of Georgia and Florida. Black pines have an extremely limited range in Alabama and Mississippi (extinct in Louisiana). It is clear to see why we in Mississippi were not thrilled by the prospects of finding the introduced snakes to be thriving.
One note of interest. Wardens and area managers often warn hunters about killing an indigo and point out how beneficial they are because they wipe-out rattlesnakes. So in a convoluted way, some appreciation may be instilled in the average snake-hater. 99% of our wardens go out of their way to kill a snake, including the protected black pine ("They can fire me if they want to but if I see it, it's a dead snake!"). So a little good will toward snakes, even if it's a bit ill-founded, is better than none at all.
Terry Vandeventer
