Kamloops, B.C., zoo sheltering 92 snakes displaced by Trans Mountain pipeline construction

It's still awhile until summer when snakes around Kamloops, B.C., become active again, but a wildlife park there has already been taking care of nearly 100 reptiles displaced by the Trans Mountain pipeline project.

In October, B.C. Wildlife Park — the Thompson region's only wildlife rehabilitation centre — received a total of 92 Great Basin gopher snakes and western yellow-bellied racers from the Crown corporation.

Trans Mountain is required by the National Energy Board to protect wildlife species from risks created by the construction project. It's also required by the B.C. Ministry of Forests to send the snakes it has disturbed to B.C. Wildlife Park for temporary captive care.

Trans Mountain says active construction is underway in the Lac Du Bois grasslands, a conservation area northwest of Kamloops where many snake dens are located.

Both the Great Basin gopher snake and the western yellow-bellied racer are threatened species in Canada.

Tracy Reynolds, the park's animal care manager, says the reptiles are sleeping in plastic tubs that are placed inside a big fridge with a temperature between 5 C and 8 C. The park will release them back to the wild next year.

"In the spring, they [Trans Mountain] can rebuild those hibernacula (shelters occupied in the winter by dormant animals) which we can release them back [to]," Reynolds told Shelley Joyce, the host of CBC's Daybreak Kamloops.

Trans Mountain says the hibernacula it is restoring for the Great Basin gopher snake, the western yellow-bellied racer and the western rattlesnake are physically adjacent and have similar characteristics to the original shelters.

Karl Larsen, a professor of natural resource sciences at Thompson Rivers University, has done research on the threatened western rattlesnake. He says he has not communicated with Trans Mountain, but he looks forward to working with it on rebuilding its hibernacula.

Larsen says he's concerned whether dens restored by Trans Mountain are safe for the snakes.

"I often explain it to people as an analogy that if you have a salmon-bearing stream that you're going to destroy, you just can't take the salmon and drop them into another stream," he said. 

Larsen also says when snakes are returned to the wild, they should be tagged or chipped so their movement can be tracked. 

According to Wildsafe B.C., fewer than five people a year are bitten by rattlesnakes in B.C. and bites are rarely fatal if treated promptly.

According to the B.C. Ministry of Environment, Great Basin gopher snakes and western yellow-bellied racers pose no threat to humans but may become aggressive and bite when cornered.

Tap the link below to listen to Karl Larsen's interview on Daybreak Kamloops: