The percussively inclined serpents are set to make an appearance in Austin this week as part of the annual tradition, according to a news release tweeted by Texas journalist Scott Braddock. At the Capitol, a group called the Sweetwater Jaycees will show off some choice specimens, host snake-safety discussions and provide information on how the animals behave and how to respond if you come face-to-face with one. Also, brave souls can apparently “pet” the slithery creatures.
State Rep. Stan Lambert, a Republican from Abilene, is touting the rattlesnakes’ sojourn on social media.
“Guess who is visiting their capitol?” he tweeted on Monday, along with pictures of the rattlesnake guests sunning themselves on the floor of the open-air Capitol rotunda.
Guess who is visiting their capitol? #HD71 #txlege pic.twitter.com/ri3vQj4jsF
— Stan Lambert (@RepStanLambert) February 13, 2023
If you’re wondering what in the heck is going on, you’re not alone. The tradition has been honored for decades in advance of the “World’s Largest Rattlesnake Roundup” in Sweetwater, a city of roughly 10,500 residents more than 220 miles west of Dallas.
The roundup, which kicks off during the second weekend in March, purportedly began as a way to cut back on the area’s out-of-control venomous-snake population. On the Texas House of Representatives’ website, a press release from Lambert about the 2018 event explained that the “over-population of rattlesnakes was causing harm to the local farmers and ranchers who were losing their livestock to these natural predators.”
Responses to the tradition are mixed, however. Some social media users appeared genuinely jazzed to learn of this week’s pre-roundup presentation. Others cracked jokes about the concept (“Every week is snake week at #txlege”) and raised concerns about the rattlers’ treatment.
The offbeat custom has generated plenty of headlines before, with the Texas Observer in 2017 noting that "Diamondback Day" has its fair share of both supporters and detractors. Each February since 1981, the Sweetwater Jaycees snake-handlers trek to the state’s capital in a van loaded up with the belly-crawlers.
The Rattlesnake Roundups reportedly boost the region's safety, in addition to lassoing tens of thousands of visitors and millions of dollars for Nolan County each spring, according to the article. Yes, but: “It’s also been criticized by scientists and animal rights advocates for the controversial main event, in which thousands of rattlesnakes — a record 24,000 pounds last year — are piled into a pit, milked for their venom, stunned, skinned alive and eaten.”
Sounds like a scene straight out of Indiana Jones.
