Snakes wash up in park

Richland officials say they’ve found five rattlesnakes in Howard Amon Park, theorizing they may have been flooded from their homes by the unusually high Columbia River.

City officials issued a warning to visitors at riverside parks, and signs were posted around the park Friday and on the door at the Richland Community Center, where one snake was found on the patio and three in the garden.

“The snakes, they’re not trying to do anything disruptive on purpose, they’ve just been displaced because of the high water,” said Tim Werner, the city’s parks and facilities resource manager. “With great weather and possibly a lot of people just fishing this weekend, it’s something they need to be aware of because snakes are going to be there.”

Werner said he hasn’t seen rattlesnakes at Leslie Grove and Howard Amon parks in the more than four years he’s been with the parks department so he thinks they’re getting swept downstream from their homes.

“I think what’s happening is that farther on up the river where the habitat is, the water line is higher, so snakes will climb on brush or debris that’s lying on the land,” Werner said. “As the water gets higher, the debris starts to float and they get caught up in that and come downstream.”

The Western rattlesnake is typically found near its den, generally in rock crevices exposed to sunshine, according to the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife.

But it has been a strange weather year and it wouldn’t be unusual for the high water levels to sweep rattlesnakes away from their natural habitats, officials said.

“It’s just like when there’s a heavy rain and you see nightcrawlers and worms on the pavement, they just got flooded out of their dirt dens,” said Madonna Luers, a spokeswoman for the Department of Fish & Wildlife