Though often feared and vilified, snakes are essential for a balanced ecosystem, and generally are beneficial to have around. Snakes eat mice and other rodents, keeping their populations in check and limiting the bugs and pathogens these critters can carry — snakes provide chemical-free, hands-off pest control for us. On the other side of the food chain, birds eat snakes, and snakes eat snakes.
Snakes are threatened by habitat destruction and encroaching development, competition from invasive species, and – persecution. So please, put down your shovels, and learn more about the value of these much-maligned reptiles:
Happy World Snake Day 2018!