Rattlesnake Roundups

BREAKING: Hundreds of Children Send Rattlesnake Love Letters To Residents of Sweetwater, Texas

Together We Can Stop the Snake Slaughter:

Contact the Sweetwater Jaycees and ask them to replace the roundup with a no-kill, educational festival that celebrates wildlife instead of slaughtering them.

Discuss this with your family, friends, and neighbors: Share this page on Twitter and Facebook or the videos here.

Write a letter to the editor of your local paper, especially if you live near a rattlesnake roundup. Use some of these facts about rattlesnake roundups.

Old school: download, print, and distribute this factsheet.

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What’s a Rattlesnake Roundup?

Each year, tens of thousands of rattlesnakes are taken from the wild to be displayed and slaughtered for entertainment and profit at rattlesnake roundups. Professional hunters, not bound by ‘bag’ or ‘take’ limits, remove snakes from their native habitats and are awarded with cash prizes for bringing in the most and biggest snakes. Most snakes are caught by pouring gasoline into their winter dens, which pollutes surrounding land and water and may impact up to 350 other wildlife species.

Science does not support claims that roundups are required to prevent rattlesnake overpopulation. Like other wild animals with natural predators, snake populations are maintained by prey abundance (rodents) and levels of predation and disease. Unlike traditional game hunting, there is no monitoring or reporting to regulate this slaughter of snakes, which has likely contributed to the decline in some rattlesnake species. Learn more.

Download the factsheet

Rattlesnakes Are Actually Awesome!

Rattlesnakes help people by playing important roles in the ecosystem.

Rattlesnakes have social lives, where moms care for babies.

AT RATTLESNAKE ROUNDUPS, CRUELTY IS BUSINESS AS USUAL

Rattlesnakes are kicked around,
bruised and bleeding from rough handling and restraint,
unsafely displayed for entertainment,
shot in the head with a bolt gun, and decapitated by machete.
Their disembodied heads continue gasping, hearts beating,
and skinless bodies writhing long after decapitation.

See more photos.

WHERE DOES YOUR RATTLESNAKE MEAT COME FROM?

There are no rattlesnake farms. The largest source of commercially available meat is Rattlesnake Roundups. Learn more.

WHERE IN THE WORLD ARE RATTLESNAKE ROUNDUPS?

In the United States, there are 13 rattlesnake roundups and 1 snake rodeo where wild snakes are taken from their home to be killed or sold for slaughter (skull and crossbones icons on the map). Some roundups have evolved into educational festivals where no snakes are killed (heart icons on the map). Are we missing anything? Please let us know!

“The festive atmosphere at these events conceals obvious and heinous animal cruelty, and emphasizes the peculiar ways we humans accept it as part of our culture.” Jo-Anne McArthur, photojournalist, We Animals
“Every rattlesnake that is killed has an impact on the ecosystem, and future generations of humans will look back at history, stunned that such environmental abuse was allowed to continue unabated.” Phillip Arena, PhD
“Removing many tons of helpful predators from nature annually is unscientific, unjustified and unsustainable.” Clifford Warwick, Consultant Biologist and Medical Scientist
“Rattlesnakes rattle when they are terrified, not angry or preparing to attack as many think. The sound of rattling at these roundups is in fact a thousand snakes screaming.” Melissa Amarello, MS Biology, Co-founder ASP