Naming Your Poison at the Beach.

Bare footed Spring breakers are in for some hurt, when they visit our beaches during the next couple of weeks.

We noticed last week while strolling the beach quite a few Man O’Wars washed up below the high tide line.  The news media warns:

The waves are washing up something to look for on Galveston’s beaches.

Portuguese Man O’Wars, relatives of jellyfish, are up and down the beaches. These critters are a concern for beach-goers because even if they’re dead on the beach, they can still sting.

The timing is bad, with spring break coming up for Houston schools next week.

City leaders say there’s not much they can do to clean up the Man O’Wars.

If Jellyfish invasion isn’t bad enough there are the rattlesnakes in the dunes issues to deal with.    Rattlesnakes in the dunes are being reported. Dune building is giving them  new homes in grasses.  Feral cats a bountiful food supply.

That’s why Kevin Inks carries a pellet gun on his walks with his dog Zeus.

“I know the risk factors out here,” said Inks. “For every one snake you do see, there’s 10 to 20 you don’t see.”

Inks claims to have seen three rattlesnakes during his walks in less than two weeks.

He captured video of one of them slithering along the sand and disappearing into a dune. He believes that’s where they nest.

But the Galveston Beach Patrol officials said rattlesnakes are quite rare, and only spotted once every several years.

Still, Inks won’t take any chances. He’s even purchased some rattlesnake anti-venom just to be safe.

“This is the last place that you’d expect to see a rattlesnake,” he said.

Some years we are the eighth wonder of the world, but this year our beaches are mined with snakes and jelly fish tentacles . We can only hope that it will deter the Spring breakers and keep them away, but I remain doubtful the rotting stench of seaweed mountains didn’t seem to do the trick.

About Liberty

Blogging is something I do for myself. I've been blogging since Sept. 2003, mostly about politics, guns, and observations about the word around me.
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