Things You Can Do To Help The Indigo  

by Dean Alessandrini

• Learn as much as you can about the Indigo and it’s habitat, and encourage others to do the same.

• Join and support organizations that promote habitat conservation and reconstruction. Examples are The Nature Conservancy and National Parks Conservation Association.

• Call or write your government representatives and express your support for more strict legislation regarding needless destruction of habitat, and specifically mention gassing of tortoise burrows. Encourage also enforcement of existing laws and tougher penalties for those in violation of the laws.

• Encourage others to abide by existing laws that prohibit: harming indigos, collecting indigos from the wild, gassing burrows, and needlessly destroying habitat. Report people who violate the laws.

• If you breed Indigos, keep detailed records so that the captive breeding methods for indigos can be better understood. One day that data could be vital in assisting organized efforts to benefit wild populations.

• Promote this website! Encourage others to check out the site in order to increase awareness and interest in the success of the Indigo.

 

Education Education Education  

Education of the general public is key to the survival of the Indigo. Educational reptile programs, when performed by a responsible individual who has checked all his facts, do worlds to improve the public’s image of snakes in general.

If you keep Indigos, try to include them in your live animal shows. Their beauty and gentle disposition will certainly be “crowd pleasers” and you can use the opportunity to educate your group about the status and threats to the Indigo. If you do not keep Indigos, remember to mention them and the importance of habitat conservation and the elimination of the needless killing of snakes during your program.

For those of you who live in the natural range of the Indigo, you can play a vital role. Describe the snakes to landowners and citizens alike. (Show photos, or even ask them to visit this site). Explain the benefits of the snakes (rodent control etc) and advise them of the threatened status and the laws prohibiting harming them. It is important to play up the harmless nature and gentle disposition of Indigos. It is much easier for a member of the general public to spare the life of a snake that they know is not “going to get them”.

 

People must LOVE, not FEAR the Indigo Snake

It is a very human instinct to protect the things we love, and to destroy the things we fear. How many people would care about the plight of the Orca if it weren’t for the efforts of Sea World and movies like “Free Willy” that explain truths, expel myths and superstitions, and encourage us to love these animals as beautiful and fascinating creatures? In the past, who would have cared? After all they are “killer” whales right? Today, people would be storming the beaches if anyone dared threatened to harm one.

It is much more difficult, however, for humans to relate to snakes than whales. Snakes do not have warm eyes and do not nurture their young, and so they are seen as “cold” or even “evil”. Those of us who appreciate snakes are truly unique because we can appreciate an animal and see it’s beauty and fascination without getting warm fuzzy hugs or kisses in return.

So how do we get the public to “love” the Indigo snake? Quite simply- education and exposure. People need to see and touch these animals. They need to see the iridescence shining from their scales. They need to hear the “heart wrenching” stories of gopher tortoise burrows being gassed, displacing gravid female Indigo snakes. It is important for those of us who love these animals to resist the urge to immediately chastise those who would hate or fear them, but rather to gently explain that you understand that they have a fear…and then calmly explain the facts. The general public can be a strong ally in saving these magnificent creatures if we get them on our side, and an almost insurmountable enemy if we do not.

There is a saying at the “Jungle Trails” rainforest exhibit at the Cincinnati Zoo that sums it up well: “In the end, we will save only what we love. We will love only what we understand. We will understand only what we are taught”.