WHY SHOULD YOU CARE?
Legally protected
The Endangered Species Act prohibits the possession, selling, delivering, carrying, transporting, importing, exporting, or shipping of any endangered species of fish or wildlife. The minimum penalty for keeping an endangered species as a pet is a $3,500 fine for the first violation, and a $13,000 fine for the third violation, protecting the snake against illegal pet trade (Trihn, 2015).
DEAR DIVERSITY
TEMPTING TOURISM
Priceless value
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Retrieved with permission from Sebastian Kennerknecht
Some sources say there are only 1,000 of these snakes left in the wild (Swenty, 2016).
The San Francisco Garter Snake has been christened “the most beautiful serpent in North America” (Miller, 2009). With an orange head, turquoise underbelly, and bold stripes of red and black, the snake is impressively gorgeous.
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It is not venomous or harmful to humans or the ecosystems which it is a part of; on the contrary, these snakes are a crucial part of the coastal wetland ecosystems of their native San Francisco peninsula (Swenty, 2016).
The beautiful San Francisco Garter Snake is also beneficial to humans. It preys on pests, including small mammals, reptiles, and amphibians (Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, 2017).
Keeping Earth’s many beauties, such as this magnificent serpent, alive on this planet adds to the intrinsic and ecological value of our planet by maintaining local biodiversity in a highly developed area, county, and world. These values include its amazing and enchanting aesthetic value that is pleasing to the eye, its bequest value to pass on to future generations, and its value as a predator and prey in its niche and ecosystem. If lost, the niche that the serpent exists within would have no native replacement and would result in the takeover of the non-native bullfrogs (Center for Biological Diversity, 2017).
If the snake is removed from endangerment, then people interested in the pet trade could breed and sell the snake while leaving the natural population unharmed, which is illegal while the animal is endangered. By attempting to restore the San Francisco Garter Snake population, that in turn forces the preservation of undeveloped land and restoration of wetland habitats (Roberson, 2014).
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It is an important duty, as humans, to understand the consequences of our actions. Along with responsibility for ruining snake habitats, humans have also, unknowingly, created the bullfrog crisis that is being faced all over America. Releasing bullfrogs that used to be pets, but then became unwanted, into the wild have lead the bullfrogs to their peak that can be seen today.
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Everybody, sooner or later, sits down to a banquet of consequences.
– Robert Louis Stevenson
Wonderful Wetland Ecosystems
The SF Garter Snake is a critical member of local San Francisco wetland ecosystems. Wetlands are incredibly beneficial, providing services which are otherwise costly, labor-intensive, and environmentally detrimental. These services include water purification, flood protection, shoreline stabilization, groundwater recharge, and streamflow maintenance (Washington).
All life is valuable to the planet and therefore our economy; according to the World Conservation Union, the monetary value of goods and services provided by ecosystems is U.S. $33 trillion per year (Neima, 2017). Aquatic ecosystems, like the ones that sustain the San Francisco garter snake, provide the majority of the crucial services and biological diversity.
Between 1970 and 2010, the planet has lost 52 percent of its biodiversity, while the human population has nearly doubled (Andrews, 2017).
Specifically, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) biennial report found that we have lost 76 percent of freshwater wildlife, 39 percent of terrestrial wildlife and 39 percent of marine wildlife since 1970 (Andrews, 2017). About 100 million metric tonnes of aquatic life, including fish, molluscs and crustaceans are taken from the wild every year, the SF Garter Snake is one such species of aquatic wildlife in the beneficial coastal wetlands (Neima, 2017).
This beneficial and beautiful snake has been a species of concern since the American government began to keep track of such things. Loss of habitat, illegal collection, and poaching (because of their beauty) led to the listing of the San Francisco garter snake as “threatened” in 1967 (US EPA, 2010). One major threat to these garter snakes is their removal from their natural habitat. Collection of these critically endangered animals by private citizens remains illegal (Swenty, 2016).
Retrieved with permission from Sebastian Kennerknecht