Killing wild animals to "protect" your pets?

[Cataholic]

I am against killing "things", creepy crawly or not. I have been guilty of killing spiders/flys, too! But, I have also transported many a bug outta the house.

As to snakes- which is a huge fear of mine- I relocate them. I had a huge dilemna several summers ago... Dakky had a teeny snake in his mouth. I was too afraid to remove it, but, didn't want him to harm it either. My solution? I screamed and screamed and screamed at him, and he dropped it, thank God. I also had every neighbor out of their house for a 5 block radius.

Kay, we don't have native venomous snakes here in my area....which is non-rural. I don't know what I would have done if faced with a copperhead. Killing it would be a last resort.

[caseysmom]

I do see your point Kay and agree with you. That being said I have killed 2 rattle snakes in my yard, at the time I was too scared to think of how to safely relocate them.

[Vela]

If it was in my yard I'm afraid I would have to kill it. I hate killing anything and even pick up worms and put them back on my lawn after it starts drying out from a rain but a poisonous snake is a different story. If it were not poisonous I woulnd't care if it was there, as it couldn't kill anyone. My kids and pets take top priority and there is nobody to call here to get rid of it. If I waited for someone to come and get it (not even sure who around here would), I could risk it wandering off into someone else's yard and killing their children or pets. I wouldn't risk being bitten and possibly dying or losing an arm to save the snake. I would hate to do it but I'm afraid in that instance I would have to. We have had many other types of snakes in the yard and they don't bother me, I think snakes are awesome, but not poisonous snakes in my yard.