To the editor:

I am writing in response to the article about Joe Collins and the discovery of the massasauga snakes in Douglas County.

I was alarmed at the cavalier attitude Collins had about the potential deadliness of the massasauga and copperhead snakes. These are both snakes to be respected and avoided.

I heard several years ago about a Kansas University professor being reprimanded for “collecting” specimens of endangered lizards in South America. Now Collins has “euthanized” (read: killed) these two snakes. For what? For research? So he measures and weighs these animals. That information can readily be obtained elsewhere. Better to keep the animals alive, so at least they can be observed, then released later. Better yet, leave them where they were.

Sometimes, people kill snakes because they fear them. People not only kill venomous snakes, but they also kill snakes that bear us no threat (and in fact, they “help” us in many ways). I believe in living in harmony with wild animals. I am saddened that Collins felt it necessary to “euthanize” the only live massasauga snakes known to be in Douglas County.

With ever-growing development and loss of habitat, snakes and other wild animals are decreasing in numbers. Wild animals need advocates who want to see them survive. I would think that a herpetologist would care enough to want to preserve them.

As development continues and our land is turned into buildings and parking lots, more creatures will be threatened. One day, one of these creatures may be us.

Kathy Schott Gates,

Lawrence