Continuing the discussion from Wildlife Sightings: Share or Stay Quiet?:
Aside from poaching, there is another herp-related ethical issue. Today I mentioned my copperhead sighting to someone in casual conversation. They asked me to send them the pictures. For a moment, I thought about doing so, but completely changed my mind after their next sentence, which was thay they might send the pictures on to the city. Their logic was that the city should know that the copperheads are there.
As was mentioned in a feature request that so far has no votes,
As naturalists, we might recognize copperheads and other vipers as valuable wildlife; but there are still too many people who think that they are performing a public service by killing these creatures. Prior to yesterday’s sighting, the last copperhead I encountered on the greenway had already been slain and its body hung on display on the bridge.
I and the person I was talking to went on to event we were going to, and they didn’t bring up the copperheads again. I’m not going to remind them. Still, I regret mentioning it because if they remember and ask me, I’m going to be in an awkward situation. Checking the map just now, I see six other copperhead observations within the city, none of which are obscured.