King snake takes on copperhead on Hilton Head

A Coastal Discovery Museum employee was walking recently on a trail on the museum’s property when he stumbled on a natural occurrence rarely seen by humans.

A king snake was in the midst of eating a venomous copperhead snake, Rex Garniewicz, museum president and CEO, said Friday.

While the situation may be startling to some, it is an example of a “good” snake getting rid of a “bad” snake, he said.

“People want to get rid of all snakes,” Garniewicz said. “But there are some snakes that are good, and king snakes are one of those.”

It is important for people to be knowledgeable of venomous and non-venomous snakes, he said.

“Someone who does not like snakes should not kill a king snake because it kills all the venomous snakes,” Garniewicz said.

Garniewicz said his employee did the right thing when he found the snake on a closed-off portion of the museum’s property.

“He saw it and left it alone,” Garniewicz said. “If you interrupt a snake like this, the good snake might let go of the venomous snake, and you don’t want that to happen.”

This story was originally published May 6, 2017 at 10:41 PM with the headline "King snake takes on copperhead on Hilton Head."