Countless Rattlesnakes Slaughtered in Cruel Events Across the Country—Speak Up to End Rattlesnake Roundups!

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“Rattlesnake roundups” are barbaric, misguided events that are sometimes held at carnivals, beauty pageants, and festivals. They typically involve forcing rattlesnakes out of burrows using gasoline fumes and hooks, dumping them into cramped crates or pillowcases without food or water and keeping them in there for a month or longer leading up to the events, and hauling them to an arena where tens of thousands of onlookers watch as they’re whipped against the floor, bludgeoned, decapitated, and skinned. Attendees can eat the snakes’ flesh and buy products made of their skin.

Rattlesnakes can feel pain, fear, and stress, making these mass-slaughter events unspeakably cruel. These reptiles have such a slow metabolism that they can suffer for up to an hour after decapitation. The “roundups” appear to have originated as misguided attempts to eradicate rattlesnake populations, which is wholly unnecessary and ineffective, and today it seems that the only excuse for them is a lack of compassion coupled with a desire to cling to outdated traditions.

Please politely let the event organizers and officials in the following cities know that you’re appalled by their support of this carnage. Urge them to scrap the events and leave these animals in peace.

Opp, Alabama, Rattlesnake Rodeo

Mayor Bracke Contact Form

City of Opp Facebook

Opp Rattlesnake Rodeo Facebook

Apache, Oklahoma, Rattlesnake Festival

Call the festival organizers at 580-588-2880.

E-mail the festival organizers at [email protected].

Town of Apache Facebook

Apache Rattlesnake Festival Facebook

Mangum, Oklahoma, Rattlesnake Derby

Call the city at 580-782-2250.

E-mail the event organizers at [email protected].