ACTION TIMELINE
September 2009 – A study showed rattlesnake roundups to be depleting populations of eastern diamondbacks in the southeastern United States.
January 28, 2010 – The Center sent a letter to Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue urging the state to outlaw rattlesnake roundups.
March 3, 2010 – The Center and allies wrote to Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker, urging the state to investigate the extent of gassing and destruction of gopher tortoise burrows to collect snakes for rattlesnake roundups.
January 25, 2011 – The Center and allies sent a letter to law-enforcement officials in Grady and Evans counties, Georgia, calling for enforcement of state wildlife laws at rattlesnake roundups.
April 5, 2011 – The Center and allies sent a letter to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources denouncing a state wildlife exhibition permit issued for the Claxton Rattlesnake Roundup held on March 12 in Evans County.
October 20, 2011 – The Center and allies sent letters to wildlife officials in Georgia and Alabama urging them to stop rattlesnake hunters from using poisons that harm imperiled gopher tortoises.
December 1, 2011 – The Center and allies today a letter to Georgia law-enforcement officials, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, and roundup sponsors urging them to enforce laws that protect both animals and people at rattlesnake roundups in the state.
January 23, 2012 – The Center, Coastal Plains Institute, Protect All Living Species and One More Generation sent a letter to the Evans County Wildlife Club praising its recent decision to change its rattlesnake roundup in Claxton, Ga., to a wildlife festival where snakes would be celebrated instead of collected and killed.
March 10–11, 2012 – The Evans County Wildlife Club hosted the first-ever Claxton Rattlesnake and Wildlife Festival, where thousands of attendees embraced the concept of celebrating native snakes instead of killing them.
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