Biology teacher, Schreibvogel has wild side job | Local News … – The Garden City Telegram

Posted: Published on June 20th, 2017

This post was added by Dr P. Richardson

Rance Shreibvogel cares a lot about animals and the ecosystem.

The high school biology teacher from Holcomb has a side job as an animal relocation specialist that is evidence of that.

He is the one to call when critters or pests come around.

Schreibvogel specializes in reptiles mostly snakes and small mammals. His motto is relocate, dont decapitate.

He doesnt get a lot of calls, mainly because people tend to take matters into their own hands. But he said that more times than not, the snake is harmless.

A lot of people freak out when they see a snake because their first thought is rattlesnake or venomous. But thats usually not the case, he said. We only have one venomous snake here, and thats the rattlesnake. Bullsnakes can be mistaken, but their heads are a lot different. Bullsnakes will try to imitate the rattlesnake. Theyll make a hissing sound and shake their tail like a rattlesnake to scare off predators, and thats usually what gets them killed. People think theyre a rattlesnake and chop their head off.

Schreibvogel has been bitten several times by non-venomous snakes. He said that when they bite, it just feels like someone pinching you. Hes very careful with rattlesnakes. Despite the danger, he still cares enough to relocate them.

Id rather have people call me or the state to relocate them, rather than just chopping them up. Because they are beneficial to the ecosystem ... he said.

He takes the rattlesnakes south of town far out in the middle of nowhere. He wants to be sure they arent anywhere near people.

He has a history of doing brave things with animals. When he lived in Hays, he spent two years relocating wildlife. And a few years ago, he tracked wild alligators in the swamps of southeast Oklahoma. He had to locate young alligators to measure them. He said he was helping the state of Oklahoma with a reintroduction program.

Were wading through the water. Its kind of nerve-wracking when you know the adults are in there, too, he said.

In his free time, Schreibvogel likes to fish and race horses. He has more than 15 species of native Kansas fish in his classroom.

He has been teaching for three years. He decided to go into teaching because he taught an ichthyology (fish biology) lab in college and enjoyed it. He said he takes his environmental science class out on field trips. Last year, he took them to Cedar Bluff State Park.

We threw nets in the stream and caught critters and crawdads and snakes, he said.

Schreibvogel usually charges $20 to $50 for his animal relocation services. He said that the price is determined by the type of animal and how hard it is to handle them.

I can take them. I would rather they call me then get a hoe and chop it into a thousand pieces. Like my card says, relocate, dont decapitate, he said.

A previous version of this story stated the wrong number of fish species Schreibvogel has. He has 15 different species.

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Biology teacher, Schreibvogel has wild side job | Local News ... - The Garden City Telegram

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