New York State Department of Environmental Conservation police officers (ECOs) recently ticketed a Catskills man for killing a timber rattlesnake.
ECOs Doig and Osborne received an anonymous tip on July 4 that a man in Hancock had intentionally killed a timber rattlesnake. Their investigation revealed that the man had also skinned and butchered the snake with the intention of eating it.
On July 7, ECO Osborne interviewed the man and recovered the remains of a three-foot timber rattlesnake killed by a BB gun. Osborne confiscated the snake’s remains and ticketed the man for unlawfully killing protected wildlife.
ECOs Nathan Doig and Dustin Osborne with rattlesnake carcass and skin they confiscated in Deposit in Delaware County in July 2019.
The incident bears an uncanny resemblance to another case from July 2019 involving a man from the same area who ran over a timber rattlesnake with his truck. The man had skinned it and planned to eat it. Acting on an anonymous tip, ECOs Doig and Osborne ticketed that man, too, for illegal possession of a timber rattlesnake.
The men ticketed in each case are not the same person, DEC confirmed.
Timber rattlesnakes are venomous pit vipers, native to NY protected by state law as a threatened species. Timber rattlers seldom display aggression unless defending themselves. The public is reminded to leave the snakes alone and observe from a safe distance.
The following reports are excerpted from DEC:
An ECO freed this great horned owl after it got stuck in a soccer net in the town of Greenville on June 26.NYSDEC
A great horned owl got stuck in a soccer net in the town of Greenville on June 26. An ECO cut the owl free with a pair of scissors, then transported it to Friends of the Feathered and Furry Wildlife Center in the town of Hunter. After about a week, the ECO released the owl into its natural habitat near where it was rescued.
On the night of July 1, ECOs seized nearly 1,000 crabs and 327 hard clams from poachers in Norton Basin, Jamaica Bay. The shellfish were either undersized or prohibited for harvest and were returned to the water. The poachers were ticketed.
ECOs attempting to confirm an angler’s identity in the Greene County town of Durham discovered the plate on the angler’s motorcycle was reported stolen. The angler also matched the description of someone with active warrants who had recently fled police during a pursuit. The angler fled on foot as ECOs, along with local police and a K-9 unit, tracked him through the woods where they found him waiting for a rideshare. The angler was charged two counts of bail jumping, one count of criminal impersonation, one count of obstructing governmental administration, and fishing without a license.
ECOs conducted an overnight boat patrol last month in the New York Bight, an area between New York and New Jersey where the Hudson River enters the ocean.NYSDEC
ECOs conducted an overnight boat patrol last month in the New York Bight, an area between New York and New Jersey where the Hudson River enters the ocean. The NY side extends from NYC to Montauk Point and features diverse maritime habitats, from beaches to estuaries. The bight is also an important seasonal gathering spot for many endangered species. The patrol focused on both maritime fishing and navigation safety enforcement. Fortunately, no violations were observed during the patrol.
On July 8, a boat struck a submerged log about a mile off the coast of Sandy Hook, New Jersey, and began taking on water. Nearby ECOs arrived first and determined that the boat’s bilge pumps were able to remove the incoming water. ECOs escorted the boat safely back to a nearby marina in New Jersey.
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Steve Featherstone covers the outdoors for The Post Standard, syracuse.com and NYUP.com. Contact him at sfeatherstone@syracuse.com or on Twitter @featheroutdoors. You can also follow along with all of our outdoors content at newyorkupstate.com/outdoors/ or follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/upstatenyoutdoors.