The idea here, which »is actually that our interactions with the living world comprise a »relationship… that changes when our behavior and priorities change.

It’s too simple to say that ‘when we hunt and kill the rattlesnakes, they lose their tails, so that we don’t get the otherwise ‘traditional’ warnings… that might save us from being bitten’. The snakes themselves have no motivation to harm humans, or any other animal. But humans can become highly motivated… by narratives and ideas… to kill organisms that are crucial participants in our own minds, lives and world.

Whether or not this interpretation is accurate… the analogy is important, because when humans decide to ‘wipe stuff out’, they are almost always starting with themselves, by pretending they are distinct … or worse, »above… the living beings or places they obliterate. This damage must land »first in them… and only »secondarily in their victims.

It is far past time that we, as individuals, and together… recognize and revere the »actual nature of our relationships with organisms and living places… thus rejecting the narratives of ‘good or evil’ that have too long dominated and excused us from acts of atrocity that should never occur, and while pretending to heroism or pragmatism… because this kind of behavior is actually suicidal ignorance.

“”Less and less rattlesnakes are rattling,” explained Steve Reaves who is the owner of a rattlesnake removal service licensed through the Arizona Game and Fish Department.

Reaves feels these snakes have now started to evolve to the point they’re losing their rattle in order to survive.

“The theory is we’ve created a snake through killing the ones that do rattle, we’ve created a rattlesnake that doesn’t tend to rattle so much,” he says.

Reaves says these silent snakes could be a big danger.

While there’s disagreement about whether this is actually a trend or not, Reaves says in some parts of the country some rattlesnakes have completely lost their rattles.”