One afternoon , late last week, my pup, Brandi was barking at something under one of the many large oak trees surrounding our home. I stopped what I was doing, which was assisting two of my DH's brothers attempting to repair our John Deere 455D crawler.
I walked over to Brandi and pet her on her head and told her to quit barking. Dogs do understand English, don't they?
Anyway, I looked down and there on the ground was a large ball of netting about three (3) feet in diameter with something black embedded in it.
I took Brandi away from this. Then went back with a very long rod and tried to pick up this round mess to no avail. Very heavy and awkward it was. It was then that I realized that a black snake about 6 - 7 foot long was never ever going to get free from his entrapment by himself.
I went into the house and called the Missouri Department of Conservation in Jefferson Citiy. After explaining to the lady that answered the 'phone my/our predicament she transferred my call to a senior agent who listened to my tale of woe with passion.
He advised me that no agent was in my area to release the snake.
I then inquired about the method that any agent would use if they were here. told him to give me about 25-30 minutes and then call me back to make arrangements to send an agent from another area if needed. I did what he told me, put gloves on, grabbed a towel and cutters and proceeded up the hill to become a Reptile Florence Nightingale.
Now please picture this long beautiful specimen of a Black Snake thoroughly trapped in this 1/2 inch mesh about every inch or so for at least 3 1/2 feet with only his tail free to wiggle about. I guess you could call a snake's tail as wiggling.
I tried to cover the section of the mesh where his head was trapped even tho' this was not an easy feat as his head was about 6-8 inches from the edge of the outer circumference.
Starting at the lower end, as I was instructed, I cautiously and carefully began snipping away at the black mesh inch by inch by inch. About half way through, I called to one of my BIL and asked if he would like to help me. He came over and took the snips and while I held the bottom half of this poor creature, by now w/o the gloves as they had become an hindrance, he cut away most of the remaining mesh. I then held the snakes head while he cut the mesh surrounding the head.
Finally, freedom!!!
While firmly but gently holding the head and the mid section of our patient, I carried it over to another shady spot and gently laid him on the ground. No thanks, just a rattle of his tail, a quick glance in my direction while sticking his tongue out at me, and off he went. About then the MO Conservation man called back and I relayed to him our 30 minute adventure with a good outcome.
Only downside of this while ordeal is that I never took any pictures.
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