The City of Wichita Falls has issued a snake alert.
This is the first time I have found myself living in a town issuing a snake alert.
The warning warns to be particularly careful to be on the lookout for rattlesnakes.
Apparently an increase in the local rat population is the reason snakes have been moving to Wichita Falls.
I have yet to see a snake, rattle type or otherwise, since I have been in Wichita Falls.
I had numerous snake encounters during my years in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex.
Snakes of various unidentified types in Fort Worth's Gateway Park: copperheads, cottonmouths and others in Arlington's River Legacy Park and Village Creek Natural Historical Area.
My one and only rattlesnake encounter occurred in South Dallas on the Cedar Hills State Park mountain bike trail. It was a big one. I had been to the Sweetwater Rattlesnake Festival the weekend prior, so I was well attuned to the distinctive sound of a rattlesnake rattling.
A few weeks ago someone mentioned to me that the rat population of Wichita Falls has increased.
I remember wondering if the town takes some sort of rat census to know such a thing.
I assume an increase in the rat population, if such has actually occurred, is due to the end of the drought and the increase of green foliage and other edibles.
I have not seen a rat, or, like I already said, a rattlesnake slithering about since I have been in Wichita Falls. I hope such continues to be the case....
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