Throughout my career, I’ve worked to advocate for the unloved – those species that are villainized despite the vital roles they play. Over the last decade, I have watched public opinion shift for animals like bats and opossums. Unfortunately, much of that shift has been driven by oversimplified and sometimes false claims. No, bats do not eat 800–1,000 mosquitoes per hour. Opossums do not vacuum up ticks.

Snakes, however, remain deeply misunderstood and widely maligned.

We still permit public cruelty through rattlesnake roundups. People continue to kill snakes and proudly display their bodies on social media, despite laws intended to protect many species. I’ve even seen and called out, state and county agency social media accounts that perpetuate fear and bias toward snakes rather than promoting understanding and conservation.

The truth is: snakes are essential to both healthy ecosystems and our own public health. As obligate carnivores, they play a major role in controlling rodent and insect populations. Research has also shown that snakes indirectly reduce tick numbers by consuming tick-laden rodents. Some species, such as timber rattlesnakes, have even been documented as seed dispersers, passing viable seeds through prey remains in their digestive systems. Beyond ecology, snake venom has had profound medical importance: some of the first blood pressure medications were developed from snake venom compounds. Venom research continues to contribute to modern medicine today.

Yet while snakes continue to provide these services, many populations are quietly collapsing.

Snake fungal disease, parasites such as snake lungworms, and other emerging health threats are causing significant population declines across multiple species. And as snakes disappear, so too do the ecological balances they help maintain.

Recently, former colleagues within the PARC network published an important study examining disease prevalence in southeastern snake populations.More than 80% of the snakes sampled carried at least one pathogen, while 44% were infected with multiple pathogens simultaneously. Particularly alarming was the detection of antibiotic-resistant Mycoplasma spp. in 18% of sampled snakes, a bacterium capable of causing upper respiratory disease that had never before been documented in wild snakes in the US.

While the study focused on only a handful of counties in the Southeast, the findings should sound major alarm bells. In many ways, the results are both shocking and unsurprising to me after years of working alongside herpetological disease researchers. What we are seeing is likely not an isolated issue, but part of a much larger and quieter crisis unfolding in ecosystems across the country.

So, how can we help?

First and foremost, we have to shed the snake stigma. Education is so important, and people can change. I was once terrified of snakes. I now teach about them. Throughout my journey and with my teaching, however, I have one main sentiment: it is OKAY to be afraid but NOT OKAY to kill because you are afraid. I teach classes on how to “Make Snakes Sexy” which is just a silly way of saying how you can use research-based techniques for better messaging around snakes, spiders, and the like.

Second, we need to practice biosecurity if handling snakes. A longstanding tradition in the herp world is to handle what we see. I remember the first time this was challenged by my former supervisor. We saw a box turtle, and I went to grab it, but she casually mentioned how people always harass them by picking them up. I realized, in that moment, maybe I don’t have to pick it up. There are some exceptions: to save an animal, for research, and/or occasional need for education. Here are some best practices:

• Limit handling free-ranging snakes.
• If you do handle snakes, disinfect your hands using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer or wear disposal nitrile gloves which should be changed between each animal you handle.
• Footwear and any object that contacts the snake or its environment (like snake hooks) should also be disinfected between snakes or sites using a 10 % bleach solution with a minimum exposure time of five minutes to effectively kill most pathogens (this is similar to what is recommended for reducing other herp pathogen transmission at vernal pools). NEPARC has a guide here.

Third, we need to advocate for snakes. As I mentioned earlier, I will call out government institutions that perpetuate fear and bias. It is equally important to support research and conservation funding for snake-focused projects. Wildlife funding has long favored animals with fur and feathers, while reptiles, especially snakes, are often overlooked despite their critical ecological roles. In some states, wild collection of snakes is still allowed and may not be adequately tracked, placing additional pressure on vulnerable populations. If we want healthy ecosystems, we need to ensure snakes receive the same attention, protections, and scientific investment as other wildlife.