Snake photo likely trick photography

Print Create a hardcopy of this page Font Size: Default font size Larger font size Posted: Tuesday, February 26, 2013 10:49 pm | Updated: 9:15 am, Wed Feb 27, 2013.

Snake photo likely trick photography By Catherine Dominguez Houston Community Newspapers

After researching a photo of what appears to be an unusually large rattlesnake, local game wardens say they are unable to find the origin of the photo that appeared on a local resident’s Facebook page.

While Brannon Mein-kowsky, a game warden with the Texas Department of Parks and Wildlife, did not call the photo a hoax, he said there was likely a little trick photography involved.

“The picture is misleading,” he said. “It looks like a giant snake, and it might be a big snake, but it’s not out of range for that type of snake. You put something on a stick and hold it close to a camera it will look a lot bigger than it is.”

Meinkowsky said officials originally thought they might have known who the man was in the photo, but he said they were unable to actually identify him.

“We followed it from Facebook page to Facebook page and from person to person and we haven’t come up with anything,” he said.

Meinkowsky added if the man in the photo was a local resident, it is likely that someone would have come forward to identify him and as of press time, no one has.

The Courier, which received several inquiries on the authenticity of the photo, learned the photo has appeared on several different sites with different descriptions and locations. Meinkowsky said he was told the photo was taken on the north side of Lake Conroe.

“It is my opinion that it wasn’t killed on the north end of Conroe,” he said. “Just based on the story and the photo, it just didn’t add up. In the background of the picture, there is a tree with a lot of Spanish Moss and I haven’t seen any tree covered in Spanish Moss like that around here.”

Another indication the photo might not be local was that the snake in the photo appears to be an Eastern diamondback rattlesnake, which aren’t native to this area of Texas, Meinkowsky said.

“They are definitely not common around Conroe,” he said.

However, the Eastern diamondback rattlesnake is the largest venomous snake in North America, with some reaching up to 8 feet long and weighing up to 10 pounds. The Eastern diamondback is commonly found in southern North Carolina to Florida and west to Louisiana. They typically are not found in Texas.

The timber rattlesnake, which is listed as “threatened” in Texas according to Texas Parks and Wildlife, is typically only about 3-4 feet long and can be found in the eastern United States as well as some eastern parts of Texas.

The Western diamondback rattlesnake averages about 4-6 feet and is found in the southwest region of the United States, including parts of Texas, according to National Geographic’s website.

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