OUTLAWING Snake-Killing Contests

Snake-killing contests, aka rattlesnake roundups, are contests calling for hunters to bring in as many snakes as they can catch in a year — and then slaughter them. Some snakes' bodies are sold for skin and meat, but many (or even most) are dumped. Almost all the contests focus on rattlesnakes, but other snakes are killed too.

These events are driving some species of rattlesnakes toward extinction. A study analyzing 50 years of data found eastern diamondback rattlesnakes in sharp decline due to killing-contest pressure and habitat loss. Rattlesnakes play a key role in the food web, especially in terms of rodent control.

And snake-killing contests are harmful to many species besides snakes. To catch rattlesnakes for the events, hunters too often spray gasoline into gopher tortoise burrows, destroying the burrows and often killing the animals inside. More than 360 species depend on tortoise burrows for food and shelter.

Although contest organizers claim that the events provide environmental education, they don’t provide any meaningful wildlife education — emphasizing the importance of saving native species. Handling venomous snakes in front of the public and then killing the snakes is the opposite of wildlife education.

Nor do these contests protect public health. There are many more annual fatalities in the United States from dog bites, lightning strikes, and bee stings than from venomous snake bites. And in fact, most snake bites happen when humans try to capture or kill snakes — so the contests themselves endanger public health by encouraging the public to do just that.

Snake-killing contests are far from necessary to generate community revenue. Many communities that used to hold rattlesnake roundups have successfully changed the focus of their revenue-generating annual events. For example, Claxton, Georgia, transformed its rattlesnake roundup into the Claxon Rattlesnake and Wildlife Festival, which includes no collection contest or snake killings. And the town of Fitzgerald, Georgia, replaced its roundup with a Wild Chicken Festival, which organizers say has been an enormous success.

OUR CAMPAIGN

The Center protects rattlesnakes, gopher tortoises, and the 360-plus other wildlife species harmed by snake-killing contests. Here are a few milestones we’ve reached in that work.

In 2010 asked Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue to outlaw snake-killing contests throughout the state, as well as requesting that Georgia’s attorney general investigate the gassing and destruction of tortoise burrows for rattlesnake roundups.
Filed a 2011 petition seeking Endangered Species Act protection for the primary target of snake-killing contests: eastern diamondback rattlesnakes. After we filed a notice of intent to sue in 2013, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that the species may warrant protection and launched a full status review.
Won a 2012 decision by the Evans County Wildlife Club in Claxton, Georgia, to change its rattlesnake roundup to a wildlife festival that celebrates snakes instead of butchering them.
In 2013 submitted a petition with more than 55,000 signatures to the city of Opp, Alabama, asking that the city host a no-kill “rattlesnake rodeo” wildlife festival instead of a snake-killing contest.
In 2017 submitted a petition with more than 5,400 signatures asking Texas wildlife officials to ban the harmful practice of using gasoline and other toxic substances to hunt rattlesnakes.
Won a 2022 decision by the Whigham Community Club in Whigham, Georgia, to stop its snake-killing contest — the last one in the state — instead featuring displays and educational programming about diamondback rattlesnakes and other native wildlife.
With action by Center supporters, helped win regulations ending snake-killing contests across Louisiana in 2024.