The City of Lakes isn’t about to be renamed the City of Snakes any day soon, but already examples of the province’s only viper have made appearances here and more could turn up in the future.

Massasauga rattlers, which can inject venom if harassed or hurt, are primarily found along the Bruce Peninsula and the Georgian Bay coast south of the French River.

They seem to be slithering a bit farther north, though, judging by a few recent sightings and verified reports.

"Someone found one on the road going into Killarney (in late August) that was confirmed," said Michael Colley, an MSc student at Laurentian who spent the summer studying the species in Killbear Provincial Park. "So they’re close. It’s possible there’s a range extension."

A few have been spotted even closer to Sudbury, particularly in the vicinity of Long Lake.

"We have had occasional sightings of rattlesnakes on the south side of Long Lake," said Mike Hall, a biologist with Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry in Sudbury. "They’ve been there for years and we’ve had no issues."

Stephen Butcher, a Long Lake resident and president of the lake’s stewardship group, can only recall one case of the snake turning up, and that was about 25 years ago.

"My neighbour Lindsay Hyland found it," he said.

Hyland, who has since passed away, drove over the snake on Westend Road, off Kantola Road on the north side of Long Lake, said his friend.

"Lindsay called me over that day because he wasn’t sure what it was," said Butcher. "It was about 36 inches long, which is as long as they get."

The two put the snake in a pickle jar, he said, and brought it to Science North, where it was confirmed to be a Massasauga rattler.

Retired biologist Franco Mariotti spent many years working with Science North, where one of his roles was to perform educational presentations with a live rattlesnake, but he can only point to a couple of instances where a snake found in the Sudbury wilds fit the description of a Massasauga rattler.

"One was run over," he said, likely in reference to the snake Butcher described. "And one teacher, whose judgement I trust, said he saw a small rattler at Long Lake."

Mariotti has heard other reports "from cottagers or residents who claimed they had seen a rattler," but "we only, truly confirmed one actual specimen."

The species is tricky to ID in the field, he said, since it’s elusive and blends in well with lichens and leaves, plus there’s a more common snake that lacks a rattle but does a pretty good job of pretending it has one.

"We do have a snake here called a milk snake that is a terrific mimic," he said. "It can be easily confused with a true Massasauga rattler."

He’s also cautious about concluding the rattlesnake has expanded its range, since one could also be accidentally imported to the Sudbury area.

"If you transport some wood from your cottage to your home, that may explain it," he said. "I would almost say (the confirmed snake) was transported, because otherwise there would be more sightings."

Sudbury would not fit into the traditional habitat of the species, he said. "Historically you follow the Georgian Bay shoreline north to the North Channel, including the islands in Georgian Bay."

A map of the rattler’s occurrence in Ontario included at the province’s species-at-risk website does, however, show three little dots directly south and west of Sudbury, between Estaire and Long Lake.

"It’s hard to say," said Mariotti. "There could be a few isolated pockets this far north."

If they do gravitate here in greater numbers, he suspects it will be a combination of three things: habitat disruption from human activity such as blasting for the new four-laned Highway 69; warming temperatures from climate change; and the simple fact that people might now be leaving the creatures alone.

"If less people are killing them, they may be becoming more numerous," said Mariotti.

That, in his view, is a good thing, as the species is currently considered threatened — a notch below endangered — and really poses no huge threat to humans.

"In talking to people who have studied them a lot, like Chris Parent, who is a pioneer of rattlesnake research, and Bob Johnson at the Toronto Zoo, they will all tell you that rattlers do not chase people," said Mariotti. "The only way you would get bitten is if you virtually step on one."

Even then, there’s a good chance a rattlesnake won’t actually release its venom, according to Colley.

"They can also do a dry bite," pointed out the LU researcher. "Twenty-five per cent of the time they don’t inject the venom, because they want to use it on prey."

And since a Massasauga rattler’s prey is small, the venom, when it is released, is not of the kind of potency that would be lethal to a person.

"The big thing I try to get across is that on the scale of venomous snakes, they are way at the bottom," said Colley. "The venom is meant to kill a mouse, not a person."

It’s also a type of venom known as a hemotoxin, meaning it "affects the bloodstream, not the nervous system," says Colley. "It’s basically a blood thinner, and affects things like a blood clot."

That’s not to say people shouldn’t be wary of rattlesnakes or take steps to avoid an encounter. For instance, walking "barefoot at night with no flashlight" in rattler habitat would be a very bad idea, suggested Colley.

And of course it is never recommended to pick one up.

A handful of people seem to get bit every year in the Parry Sound area — the average is three per year in Ontario — but physicians are equipped to deal with the poison and most bite victims are treated promptly and successfully.

Two people in Ontario have died from a rattlesnake bite, but none in more than 50 years.

In one of those cases, a cottager lay down on a snake and was bit on the neck, noted Mariotti, so the venom had a more direct path to the heart and brain.

More often, a person would get bit on the leg after stepping on one, which might cause some temporary numbing but probably little lingering concern.

There was even a case where a person on a Georgian Bay island "was barefoot and stepped on one three times," noted Mariotti. "That’s a lot of venom, but he recovered totally."

In his work with Science North, Mariotti made presentations to cottaging groups to illustrate the relative harmlessness of rattlers.

"To show their behaviour, I would bring a live rattler with me and have people, including children, pick it up with a snake stick," he said. "Once they see that, they aren’t readily going to kill them on sight."

Colley, whose work this summer involved studying the effectiveness of tunnels designed to spare Massasauga road mortality, believes the snakes play an important ecological role and deserve respect and protection.

"They’re a really unique, interesting species," he said. "Most people don’t get to see them, but they’re a cool part of the ecosystem."

The snakes dine on rodents, helping to keep those populations in balance, and also provide food to other animals, Colley noted.

It takes a brave animal to tussle with a venomous snake, but the fisher is one such tough customer.

"Fishers will rip their heads off before they eat them," said Colley, thus circumventing the venom. He added that hawks, owls and raccoons will sometimes prey on a baby rattler.

People probably aren’t going to find one appetizing — "I don’t know anyone who eats them," said Colley with a laugh — but they can still admire them.

Among the Massasauga’s intriguing attributes are its eyes, which have vertical, cat-like pupils (it’s the only snake in the province to have such peepers), and of course its rattle, which is made of keratin, the same material that composes human fingernails.

First Nations people near Killbear Park have traditionally viewed the snake as "a protector of over-harvesting," Colley noted.

To them, the sound of the rattle was "a warning to conserve the resource," he said. "They’re saying, ‘Hey, you can’t take too much.’"

jim.moodie@sunmedia.ca