Maine rattlesnakes?

To the Editor:

Nicole Carter’s reporting on Michael Davis’s rattlesnake research in Maine (October 12) was especially interesting to those who may have wondered why, in supposedly rattler-free Maine, we have Rattlesnake Mountain and Rattlesnake Brook in parts of Oxford and Cumberland Counties, dating back to colonial maps.

Several years ago, a man in the sand and gravel business told me he unearthed a nest of baby rattlers in a sand pit in West Bethel. Although I’ve hunted fall birds in SW Maine for more than 50 years, through terrain only a snake could love, I’ve never caught a glance of any kind of reptile. Not heard otherwise from veteran gunners. Maybe the Maine rattlers know when to head south.

But you have to wonder if climate change, shorter winter seasons, more rain, and less snow and ice could revive the Maine species. If rattlers can flourish from Minnesota to Montana and points in all directions, why not back where the way life should be?