Eleven-year-old Annli Michell walked around Noxen’s fairgrounds holding her new friend, a brown milk snake.
“I named him Steve,” said Annli.
She showed off "Steve the Snake" at Noxen’s 2024 Rattlesnake Round-Up on June 16. At the round-up, snake wranglers bring in their catches, big and small, venomous and nonvenomous to Wyoming County each year.
Annli will help release Steve and his 104 snake friends back into the wild after the festival.
“I like that you get to interact with wildlife and be out and interactive with nature,” said Annli.”
It’s her second year out in the field. And she learned from the best, her mom. Snake catching is one of the family’s hobbies. Her mom, Aleycia, was one of the event’s organizers.
Annli wasn’t the only snake handler-in-training working on Sunday.
Thirteen-year-old Olivia Gillen celebrated Father’s Day with her dad and the three snakes they brought in for judging. Event organizers awarded plaques for the largest snakes, the most snakes caught and the greatest number of rattles. The winner in that last category had 15 rattles.
Olivia said her dad started taking her hiking in the mountains to teach her where to look for snakes and how to stay safe while hunting.
“When he’d catch a snake, he’d get me comfortable like just being by the snakes. And over time, I got more comfortable handling them,” said Olivia.
It didn’t take long for her to fall in love with snakes.
“I like just seeing them, the beautiful colors of them, the different faces and how long they are,” said Olivia.
Organizer Lew Hackling said the event breaks down misconceptions about rattlesnakes.
Handlers shared snake facts and stories from the hunt.
“The best thing you do when you get bit by a snake is number one, remember you just talked to me – I wasn’t dead. I’m not dead from a rattlesnake or copperhead bite,” echoed over the speakers.
Hackling started hunting after going to Noxen’s first round-up in 1972. He was 10 years old. Hackling has helped out ever since, noting that it’s the local fire department’s biggest fundraiser of the year.
Rattlesnake Round-Up.
He hopes the round-up teaches people to not mistreat rattlesnakes out of fear.
“Even back in the church, [rattlesnakes have] been associated with the devil, et cetera, and they’re not. They’re not evil. There’s nothing wrong. They’re a part of our nature and habitat and environment,” said Hackling.
Each snake’s measurements are reported back to the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission. Hackling said it helps the department survey the region’s population.
But he worries about their safety as new industrial developments in rural areas threaten their habitat. Rattlesnakes travel long distances for food and water each year.
“A male rattlesnake will travel five miles as the bird flies every summer,” said Hackling. “So, he’s crossing countless roads and then goes back to where he lives for the winter, so that’s what really hurts him.”
Around 10 to 20 percent of the round-up’s catches each year are from recapture, according to Hackling. Each snake is microchipped so wranglers can identify whether they were previously caught.
