Over 1300 Snakes Found At An Airport

TOPSHOT - A rattlesnake is seen before extracting venom from it at the Butantan Institue -which supplies the Ministry of Health, with many snakes' venom for its ditribution countrywide- in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on November 12, 2019. - In 2018 nearly 29,000 people were bitten by snakes in Brazil, of which over a hundred were killed. Most of the cases were in the vast and remote Amazon basin, far away from hospitals stocked with antivenom. (Photo by CARL DE SOUZA / AFP) (Photo by CARL DE SOUZA/AFP via Getty Images)

It’s stuff out of a horror movie. But not quite “Snakes On A Plane”. There were around 1300 snakes found at an airport. I came face to face with one small copperhead last summer and let me tell you it may have scarred me for life. 1,300 I can’t even imagine. But it’s true.

A San Francisco Airport property is crawling with about 1,300 snakes. A study commissioned by the U.S. Geological Survey and U.S. Fish & Wildlife found San Francisco International airport has the largest, most stable population of the San Francisco garter snake. The garter snake is an endangered species. However, the snakes are not IN the airport so you can breathe a sigh of relief. The snakes live on the airport property but are located across the highway from the airport. The area is off-limits to the public. I don’t think you have to worry about anyone purposely venturing into that restricted area either. A “warning snakes” sign would probably do the trick.

A study commissioned by the U.S Geological Survey and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service found that the San Francisco International Airport has the largest, most stable population of an endangered species, the San Francisco garter snake. https://t.co/7Lc8eU8gNz
— Q13 FOX Seattle (@Q13FOX) June 16, 2021

The airport is also home to grazing goats during the summer fire season. Now that is something I can get on board with. Can the Charlotte airport get some goats?

When I first read this news my mind immediately went to Indiana Jones. I have never liked snakes but once I had that experience last summer I think I’d move them up the fear list for sure.