Gray Ratsnake and Eastern Foxsnake reside in Haldimand County

By C. Blott

To The Haldimand Press

HALDIMAND—Haldimand Stewardship Council has long been involved in recovery efforts to support rare animals.

In recent years we have been asking county residents and visitors to photograph and report observations of rare snakes, and it is paying off.

Over the last three years, through landowner reporting and photo submissions, we have been able to confirm the continued presence of a population of Eastern Foxsnake in the county, and just this summer we received video footage of a Gray Ratsnake in a part of the county where they have not been previously recorded.

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Photo submissions provide clear evidence of species identification. If it is a rare animal, the submissions set in motion outreach and monitoring in the broader area surrounding the observation.

For example, following this latest Ratsnake submission we delivered outreach cards to landowners within roughly 5 kilometres of the observation.

If there’s one, there’s more, and someone has probably seen them. Any additional observations that may come in from the area will be mapped to look for clustering that may suggest the presence of a small population, or patterns that show what features and parts of the landscape the animals are using.