FORREST CITY, AR -- King snakes, moccasins, and even rattlesnakes. If you live in Forrest City, Arkansas they could be making an appearance at your house. Animal control officers tell myEyewitnessNews.com they are getting three to four calls a week about snakes crawling across lawns, porches, and even trying to get into homes.
Ms. William Rideaux had a close call with a slithering snake on the screened in back porch of her home on Fernwood Drive on Wednesday, June 17, 2009. Rideaux says, “I got up and walked to the back and I saw something that looked like a worm. I said he’s mighty big to be a worm and I didn’t have my glasses on, but then as he started going up the door I realized it was a snake and I shot out the front door!”
Rideaux says she flagged down a passing police officer who called Forrest City Animal Control Director Roy Hamilton to track the snake down. Hamilton says Rideaux was terrified. “She wouldn’t come out of the house. She was staying in the house. She was talking through the door.”
Rideaux says, “The screen door was locked and he wanted me to unlock it and I told him no, you come through the front and you go through that way. When I let him in, I closed the door right back. I locked him out there and the policeman.”
Hamilton eventually found the snakes slithering underneath some rugs on the porch.
Another scary thing about the snake sighting in Rideaux’s back yard, it’s just a few feet away from where children play at a day care center next door. Rita Morris is the day care owner. Morris says, “I hope I don’t see any but there’s no guarantee that they won’t come over since they are my neighbors.”
Animal control officers say there are a number of reasons for the increase in snake sightings. This is their mating season. The snakes are looking for food, and higher dry ground to nest after the recent wet weather in the Mid-South.
If you live in Forrest City and want a snake removed from your yard, call the Forrest City Police at (870) 633-3434. Officers will contact Animal Control and send an officer to your home.
