Yesterday my family and I visited The Grand Canyon (what a magnificent sight) and during the day I saw something that proved you can never get enough good education.
While looking at examples of housing that were used over the years by native Americans, several nearby tourists became very animated and started running around one of the "tents" that had been made using branches of trees draped over a timber frame.
I wandered over to see what the commotion was about and one guy was running around the structure yelling that he had heard a "rattle" and thought there was a snake inside the tent.
I stood there and watched while this same guy then starts to stick his hand inside the branches trying to part them!!!!
I commented "Don't you think that is a bit dangerous?" and his response was "I have never seen a rattlesnake up close!!!"
I could not believe what I had just heard - this guy is miles away from anywhere, with limited medical services and he is sticking his hand into branches where he believes a rattlesnake is hiding because he has never seen one before!!!!!
This is why good education is so important - if this guy had looked at the Working with Wildlife website, perhaps read the FAQ About Snakes information, or better, read the e-Book, he would have known just how crazy what he was doing was.
There is, however, a happy ending to this story - the "rattle" the guy had heard turned out to be nothing more than a cricket clicking its wings!!!!!!
The guy might have been disappointed but at least he never ended up in hospital!!!
Hi Dean, the following link will take readers to a page describing the snake this guy was hoping to see http://www.reptilesofaz.org/Snakes-Subpages/h-c-oreganus.html (shame you didn't get an email address and I could have satisfied at least some of his curiosity.
ReplyDeleteCheck out the statement at the end of the article under "Remarks".
And you are right, our e-Book is an excellent opportunity for readers to know what NOT to do, so they can enjoy the outdoors in safety.
Enjoy the rest of your holiday!
Thanks Julian.
ReplyDeleteBelieve me, the last thing that went through my mind was to ask him for his email address - he was so focussed on trying to find this "snake" that all I was thinking about was finding a way to suggest to him that he would be well advised to get his hands out of the brush if there was a snake there!!!
The tone of his response when I suggested that what he was doing was a bit dangerous also indicated that he was not open to any advise on anything!!!!!
It astounds me that a person would even consider placing themselves in a situation where they could have easily been bitten, but there you go.
Oh well, we can only hope that more people read information like that which is provided in the Working with Wildlife e-Book because at least then we will know that they are getting sensible advise on snakes and what to do if you ever come into contact with one.