Marines bound for Iraq meet a rattler

The Marines at the desert base at Twentynine Palms are being trained to be ready for the dangers of Iraq: suicide bombers, snipers and roadside bombs.

Sometimes the native wildlife provide a different kind of training on how to stay alert -- such as the 3-foot-long rattlesnake found in the motor pool area snuggling up to an A1M1 Abrams tank. A mechanic was about two feet from the snake when he made the discovery.

Marines are not allowed to harass or kill the snakes that make their home at the sprawling base.

So a biology technician in the base's environmental office was summoned with his snake-removing hook to corral the rattler, which was relocated to an area behind the Combat Center Hazardous Munitions and Recycling plant.

The snake thus redeployed to a safe -- and remote -- area, training for Iraq-bound troops could resume.

-- Tony Perry, in San Diego

Marine Corps photo: Speckled rattlesnake at Twentynine Palms.

Comments

[joan]

Where I come from they are shot or shoveled to death, don't want them around to harm others. Wouldn't hunt them down, but don't want them around to hurt children or domestic animals.

[joan]

Where I come from they are shot or shoveled to death, don't want them around to harm others. Wouldn't hunt them down, but don't want them around to hurt children or domestic animals.