Community Watchdog

A snake that had been under a garbage container in Massapequa Park slithers away to the next yard.
Newsday photo by Gwen Young

An item in Newsday's Community Watchdog column Sunday was about Catherine Walsh of Massapequa Park who had a problem with snakes.

A couple of readers wrote to say her desire to have her yard, next to a recharge basin, free of snakes was “ridiculous.”

One anonymous person wrote: “I have to say that the effort to kill harmless garter snakes because she is scared is ridiculous. They eat insects, they are good for the environment. She knew she was living next to a sump, so why the outcry. Our environment is so messed up, why oh why would you want to buy animals and plow up trees because of a few garter snakes. If she fixed her house, the nakes could not get in. If they are in her yard, she should be happy, they eat bugs. I guess she would rather poison everything to kill bugs instead. These snakes do not bite, the are NOT rattlesnakes. I found this attitude and the actions taken so truly ignorant.”

Unlike the writer, I can understand how Walsh feels. She was dealing with dozens of snakes, not a one or two. And she and her son were careful not to kill the snakes. Her son gathers them up and takes them to a park and releases them.

Yes, Walsh knew she was moving next to a sump 42 years ago. But the snake problem didn’t start until a few years ago when maintenance on the sump faltered.

Finding 45 snakes in your yard during the summer may not be difficult for some people, but there are many of us who aren’t comfortable with snakes, whether or not they’re poisonous and especially when there’s that many of them.

An exterminator told Catherine Walsh her snake problem was emanating from the sump next to her home, but Massapequa Park village officials weren't convinced.

Newsday photo by Gwen Young

I’ve lived in the Village of Massapequa Park for 42 years, next to a sump. It’s been about four years since the sump was cleaned. For the past few years, I’ve been having problems with snakes. Last summer we found about three dozen in my yard. The worst part was when I was watching TV downstairs. There was one under my coffee table. I called the village and was told to get an exterminator. It cost me $400 and he said the snakes were from the undergrowth in the sump. So far this year, my son found 11 of them in my yard. My neighbors have the same problem. The village needs to do something.

--Catherine Walsh, Massapequa Park

At first, Village Administrator Peggy Caltabiano was firm that this was not a village problem. “We have sent several people there and walked the sump and visually looked at her yard and found nothing,” she said. A consulting exterminator “does not believe it would be coming from the sump.”

But we reasoned that dozens of snakes found by residents on the same block should warrant help from officials. She then talked to Mayor James Altadonna Jr., who said the source of the snakes should be found. Quoting the mayor, Caltabiano said, “If it’s a source we’re responsible for, we’ll take care of it."

She asked the Nassau Health Department for help, but was told garter snakes are not a health threat. (Maybe not, but snakes can be really frightening to non-fans. See a video of a snake in Walsh’s yard at newsday.com/watchdog.)

Caltabiano then sent the village superintendent to the sump. “He determined we may be able to help,” she said. Since then, workers have been to the sump twice, clearing the area from the fence that borders Walsh's yard down to the recharge basin.

That seems to have made a difference. A grateful Walsh said she hasn’t seen any snakes recently.