With warmer days come snakes to play— or however that saying goes. It’s no surprise that we see more animals during warmer weather. Whether they wake up from hibernation, fly back for the summer or come out of their burrows, spring is no stranger to wildlife.

Locals and visitors alike then spend their warm afternoons in the Brown County State Park.

All the above can lead to problems.

Brown County is home to dangerous animals and arachnids such as timber rattlesnakes, copperheads, brown recluse and black widows, all of which are poisonous. Bobcats and coyotes have also been seen roaming through the county.

Joe Tenbarge, an Indiana Conservation Officer for Brown County, said that they are mainly worried for people’s safety regarding snakes. He said that while people should use caution especially with children and pets, the arachnids, bobcats and coyotes do not bring much cause for concern.

“We don’t have any confirmed mountain lions in the state,” Tenbarge said. “Bobcats have been here for a very long time, but they are defensive animals. Everything we have in the state is smaller than us and they are all defensive.”

Tenbarge said that even coyotes will not generally attack unless they are being threatened, however locals should still be weary of them as they are known to attack small pets and chickens.

He said that he is not as concerned about rattlesnakes as he is about copperheads in Brown County.

“We haven’t had a rattlesnake bite (in Brown County) in close to 50 years, but with copperhead bites there are around two to four per year,” Tenbarge said. He added, “When we start getting that weather where it is cooler in the evenings that is when we see the majority of them. Copperheads will come out of the woods onto the paved roads to get warmth, campers that are barefoot traveling to the bath house for example can step on them.”

Tenbarge said that there are a couple of people on his team who are snake handlers. They are the designated officers typically sent out to retrieve snakes from houses.

If you are on a trail or in a wooded area, the best ways to avoid snake encounters are to stay on the path, wear shoes and keep an eye out on the trail in front of you. Also, people should avoid rolling logs or picking up large stones that they cannot see under, snakes tend to hide in rock crevices and wood piles to cool off on a warm day.