It isn’t unusual to come across a garter snake or a black rat snake around the property. We even find the rat snakes hanging out in the garage on occasion. I always enjoy seeing them. I think snakes are fascinating animals and I know they are the reason we have never had a mouse problem. This evening as we opened the overhead garage door to take trash down to the road, a rat snake was entangled in the door track and roller. We didn’t see it until the door was almost all the way up. The snake was completely wrapped around and pinned behind the roller. The poor animal was obviously fatally injured and the only thing we could do was lower the garage door enough to free it from the roller. The snake was almost completely severed in two pieces, just an inch or so behind its head. It seemed as though only a very small strip of skin was holding it together. There was no chance that it could survive such massive injury, so together, we ended its suffering. Putting an end to an animal’s life is not something that either of us wanted to do, but seeing it suffer so was even worse. I guess it is all part of taking responsibility for this little parcel of land and all its inhabitants.