Rattler sightings in Rich Valley

By DAN KEGLEY/Staff

According to Robert Campbell, rattlesnakes are not normally found in the farmed bottomlands of Rich Valley. Up on the mountain slopes, yes, but according to Campbell, in recent days the snakes have shown up in some numbers in the section from Chatham Hill east about a mile.
“One was just above Ken Carter’s old store building,” Campbell said. “One was on Dot Maloyed’s porch steps. That kind of brings it home. One was run over in the road just below Tim Spencer’s in New Cove. One was killed Friday between Jerry and Mildred Yates’ and Dan Pruitt’s on Route 16 a couple hundred yards from the North Fork of the Holston River.”
Others have been killed on the highway above Hungry Mother State Park and up at the top Walker Mountain, Campbell said. That’s where they are expected to be found.
Campbell said some people think the five-and-a-half inches of rain that flooded parts of the valley “washed the rattlesnakes out of their dens.”
Sightings of rattlesnakes in other places where they are uncommon have led to beliefs that drought conditions put the critters in motion.
The newest explanation Campbell has heard is that “the Taliban are dropping rattlesnakes from helicopters.”
Wytheville Community College biologist Dr. Donald Linzey said Monday the snakes “are probably just moving in search of food,” possibly reflecting movements or other changes in the snakes’ prey species.
Very small snakes are often seen this time of the year, Linzey said.
“All snakes in our region either produce their young alive or their eggs hatch during mid-August. We always experience more sightings during August and September, particularly of smaller individuals,” he said.
In literature about Virginia’s snakes, the Virginia Cooperative Extension Service repeatedly says it is illegal “to kill any species of snake in Virginia unless it presents an imminent threat to one’s personal health and safety.”
Perhaps that covers the UPS employee who, according to Campbell, found the rattlesnake on Dot Maloyed’s porch steps, and delivered its coup de grace.
A report of a 13- or 14-foot rattlesnake in Hungry Mother State Park is a probable hoax, a park staff member said. Park Manager Scott Bowen was not available for comment.

dkegley@wythenews.com