[shouldazagged]

I won't kill one unless it's him or me, and it hasn't been him or me for over fifty years despite all the time I've spent outdoors. They control rodents, for one thing--we'd be up to our hip pockets in rats and mice without them. They're part of the Big Picture. Everything has its part to play.

I've sat on the edge of a pond and watched a two-and-a-half-foot copperhead hunting frogs eighteen inches from my boot. He wasn't bothering me, and I saw no reason to bother him.

I have eaten rattlesnake, and it's tasty. I knew an eccentric character who would invite friends to drop by for lunch, and serve them what they thought was the best chicken salad they'd ever tasted. After they'd packed away a couple of helpings he'd tell them it was rattler. Those who didn't run out in the back yard and throw up were invited back.

But I'm not killing any snakes for food.