ATHOL, Mass. -- Snakes. Hundreds of them. On an island. Sounds like something from an Indiana Jones movie, but it could be coming to Massachusetts.
Timber Rattlesnakes are dying off, in part due to poachers all over the state, including the Berkshires.
The state's idea is to create what is, essentially, a Rattlesnake Island, where hundreds of them can live isolated on Quabbin Reservoir straddling Western and Central Mass., and be protected.
Of course, people were not happy to hear this for the first time a few months back, including people in the town of Athol, just a few miles from this proposed island. The state apologized for how the idea was presented and wants to make it right when it hosted a public meeting on Tuesday.
The fear that a snake will swim off the island and bite someone is what's on the average person's mind, but Berkshire Community College science professor and snake expert Tom Tyning agrees with the state that the chances of getting bitten are slim to none. In fact, the last fatal rattlesnake bite in Massachusetts happened in the mid-1800s.
"Probably, there's no more endangered species than the Timber Rattlesnake in the entire Northeast," said Tyning. "Here's the safety thing: Don't pick up a rattlesnake. That's all I can tell people."
Tyning said, biologically, he's still on the fence about it. Even though he said the Quabbin Reservoir is the best location to try it, he's worried the snakes won't adapt to their new habitat.
"We don't know if it's going to work or not; it's really experimental, in my opinion," Tyning said. "I hope it does, because it's really a brilliant idea ... to try and help the, historically, most unloved endangered species that we have."
The truth is there are other, friendlier endangered species, from frogs to pandas, but Tyning says you can't pick and choose which species are endangered, venomous or not.
"It doesn't matter how cute they are or how fuzzy they are or how colorful they are," said Tyning. "Endangered is endangered."