Monday, March 28, 2011

CPR, Anyone?

So I heard on the radio the other day that there is a growing number of people out there who are becoming CPR certified--on animals. It's called "Mouth to Snout." I'm not kidding you here, it's for real. I must admit that I am batting a thousand on my CPR animal attempts. I have actually performed CPR on three different newborn calves and managed to save them. I probably would attempt it on dogs and cats, too. I am a self-professed "chicken whisperer", however, I don't believe that would fall into my realm of performing CPR. And I absolutely, positively, would not perform CPR on a reptile of any kind. And, believe it or not, there are people out there who are getting certified to save said reptiles. I always have had the philosophy that a good snake is a dead snake. Well, I'm not quite that harsh. I have been known to gather up a bullsnake or two and toss them back over the fence into the pasture, while giving them a good scolding on why they are not to ever appear again in my yard. I'm sure they have understood every word I said. Rattlers, on the other hand, are a different story. I use no bargaining power with them and it will be a cold day before I perform CPR on a rattlesnake. I remember the time I was working for the local weekly newspaper and there was a murder/suicide in Elbert County. These people had all kinds of snakes in the house, including some very poisonous ones. The sheriff invited me to go along so I could get the "scoop" as they attempted to capture the snakes which had been set free before the human deaths occurred. I politely declined the offer to tag along. So that's probably why I am NOT the proud owner of a Pulitzer today. Anyway, throughout the ordeal, the law enforcement officials and some snake experts from Reptile Gardens in South Dakota managed to corral all but one of the slithery creatures. The one missing? A cobra from Thailand. They searched high and low and could not find this guy. Oh, I might add that this was all being done in the month of March. Let's connect Colorado, March, and Thailand. What do those have in common? Well, Colorado and March have cold in common, which is not too common in Thailand. The "brains" decided to look between the mattress and bed springs and there he was...too cold to move. They scooped him up, put him in a special snake barrel and fired up the heater in the pickup. It didn't take Ole Slithers too long to come alive! They shipped him to the Reptile Gardens where I'm sure he lived a full and happy life with his other slithery friends. So, I ask, should CPR have been performed in this instance? Maybe on me if I had been there!!!

1 comment:

  1. Jean, my philosophy on snakes is almost the same as yours. It only is different in the fact that ALL snakes are dead snakes!! One year after moving out here to Wild Horse, I killed what I am sure was Mama hognose and Daddy hognose. All summer long I killed baby hognose snakes! Sure they were only 5-6 inches longs, but THEY WERE SNAKES and they scared the crude out of me everytime I saw one! My husband was not happy with me and still frowns when he sees that I have killed what he calls "a harmless snake"!

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