BOSTON (WWLP) – A group of lawmakers want the state to delay a plan to breed venomous rattlesnakes on Mount Zion Island in the Quabbin Reservoir.
“If our constituents are concerned and the residents or visitors to the area are concerned – we should listen to them and make sure their voices are heard,” said Athol State Representative Susannah Whipps Lee yesterday.
Longmeadow State Sen. Eric Lesser submitted a letter to Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Matthew Beaton, requesting a freeze on the plan pending further legislative hearings.
The letter stated that: “There are a significant number of unanswered questions regarding the risks this plan will pose to the public, including the rattlesnakes’ ability to leave the contained area and the potential threat they pose to hikers, fishermen, sportsmen and others utilizing this precious natural resource, in addition to nearby residents.”
The lawmakers want any action on the plan to be frozen until an oversight hearing by the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture on May 10, 2016.
Some residents who live near the Quabbin Reservoir have voiced opposition to the plan by the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife to breed Timber Rattlesnakes on Mount Zion Island.
State Senator Don Humason did not sign the letter. He said that he sees the importance of preventing native rattlers from becoming extinct.
“We believe in the Hollywood examples of snakes as the predator. (Snakes on a Plane?) I love that movie, but even so, we have to be concerned of the fact that they are endangered species,” said Humason.
The letter was co-signed by several western Massachusetts legislators including, Spencer State Senator Anne Gobi, Chair of the Joint Committee on Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture, Ludlow State Rep. Thomas Petrolati and Warren State Rep. Todd Smola.
The legislative oversight hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, May 10 at 11 a.m., at Athol Town Hall.
