Wild critters invade farms

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July 12, 2007

Water shortage to blame

By MELANIE THOMAS The Glasgow Daily Times Thu Jul 12, 2007, 12:30 PM CDT

GLASGOW — Drought conditions are causing wildlife to take a few more nibbles off local farmers’ crops.

Local farmers have noticed an increase in wildlife, such as deer and raccoons, and also snakes, lurking near ponds, corn rows and crop fields.

“(Animals) are showing up in places that are unusual,” said Barren County Constable Mark Oliver.

An increased number of deer, raccoons and coyotes have been grazing on sweet corn, said Glasgow farmer Tim Britt.

“That’s just a problem you have,” Britt said. “Some years it’s worse ... this year they ain’t got nothing to eat.”

Drought conditions have caused foliage deer eat to become dry, and lake and pond levels are low.

However, raccoons are always a menace, Britt said.

“Since we started getting rain, the deer eased up,” Britt said. “The ’coons haven’t though ... they had themselves a picnic one night.”

Drier conditions will cause animals to move more in search of food and water, said Mark Marraccini, the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources spokesman. Possibly more than normal, Marraccini said, however, wildlife feeding off farms isn’t a problem.

“The animals are affected by drought conditions just like everybody else,” Marraccini said. “If they have to move more to find larger bodies of water that haven’t dried up, that may bring them in contact with farms or other areas they may not normally come in contact with.

“But just because its dry doesn’t mean they seek out farm crops.”

There is plenty of growth now, after the recent rainfall, to sustain themselves, he added.

Over the last two weeks Oliver said he received three reports of copperhead snakes and possibly a rattlesnake endangering local farmers.

“People are just coming up on them in their atmosphere,” Oliver said.

Kingrey Road farmer Rondal Lloyd said last week he encountered a three-foot copperhead snake at a pond across the street from his house. The snake’s circumference was about the size of a softball, he added.

It was the first one he said he had ever seen.

“It’s the drought,” Lloyd said. “They need water.”

Lloyd was at the pond to move a boat from the water, and as he hauled the boat to the shore, he uncovered the resting spot for the snake.

“I guess I was bothering him when I moved that boat off of him,” Lloyd said. “He was fixing to get me if I hadn’t gotten back ... it was rearing up to attack me.”

Lloyd threw a rock at it to protect himself and then went to grab his shotgun at his home. When he returned the snake was in the water.

Lloyd said he shot at it three times, killing it on the charmed third try.

He said he then laid it on the road for spectators, but someone snatched it up quickly.

“People were saying to make a hat band out of it,” he said. “I guess someone really wanted that snake to make one.”

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