AP story, hence not quoted:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iY6kZQom7F1bONTmMEFHWJTvFCyAD99RN4JG2


Some supplemental information:

http://www.californiaherps.com/snakes/pages/t.gigas.html


http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/species/reptiles/giant_garter_snake/index.html
SAVING THE GIANT GARTER SNAKE
The giant garter snake is one of North America’s largest native snakes, reaching up to 64 inches in length and endemic to California’s Central Valley, where it originally inhabited natural wetlands. Unfortunately, wetland destruction for agricultural, urban, and industrial development has eliminated more than 90 percent of suitable habitat for the species, forcing snakes to rely heavily on rice fields and managed marsh areas....

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The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.
-- Carl Sagan