BAD Snake

My brother says that the only good snake is a dead snake. I always argue with him, remind him of the benefits of the good (nonvenomous) snakes, like king, rat, and garden snakes, who keep down the rodent population; king snakes even prey on venomous snakes, doing two good deeds for us humans. I am always the one to argue that he should just leave the snakes be. Even the venomous Eastern Diamondback rattler offers some serious benefits to humans: it's an excellent rodent hunter and its venom is used, not only as an anti venom for rattlesnake bites, but to treat stroke and to prevent the growth of some cancerous tumors. This is the one I am most familiar with, having grown up in Middle Georgia and spent a good bit of time in southeastern Georgia, where my parents have property. Really, it's probably the main reason that every woman in my family knows how to manage at least a shotgun. The men, of course, all know because besides being expected to defend the womenfolk against snakes and whatever else they may see as a threat, they also tend to like to hunt. But I digress.
This morning, as I looked out into the yard, I thought I saw the head of yesterday's snake peeking out of the cross tie again. Jujuu, photo time! By the time I got to the sand pile, I saw this snake.
I was immediately anxious. First, his markings are all wrong for a good snake. Second he didn't slither out his tongue and try to get away from me. His head had the triangular shape of a viper. And his pupils, instead of being all nice and round and innocent looking, were tiny black vertical lines. It didn't move when I moved. It just sat there, as Thomas says, like a Nazi. A quick call to my mother and search on the Internet confirmed my suspicion: Copperhead Moccasin.
Copperheads bite more people per year than any other U.S. snake though their venom is less potent than that of most species. Almost no one dies of copperhead bites. But, and you know there is one, this snake was in my sonny boy's sand pile, where he often plays, and this sand pile is in our yard where we have all been playing Frisbee for the past several days. And, well, we got a shovel and chopped the snake's head off! No way I'm going to let something threaten my child. Maybe it's an Irish thing: Mess with me and mine, and well... . My father says, "It's a GOOD snake now."