Timber rattlesnake (Wikimedia Photo)

Timber rattlesnake (Wikimedia Photo)

Some residents in central Massachusetts are concerned over the state’s plans to breed and raise venomous rattlesnakes on an island in the Quabbin Reservoir.

Officials with the Massachusetts Department of Fisheries and Wildlife are trying to help the endangered species by raising the snakes and setting them free on the island, according to an article in the Boston Globe.

But some residents in New Salem, Massachusetts are concerned about the snakes, which are able to swim. However, wildlife officials say the snakes pose little threat, as any that swim off the island would die the following winter when they weren’t able to return to their nest. And, they say, the snakes are shy creatures that avoid humans.

Read about Massachusetts’ plan to breed rattlesnakes on an island in the Quabbin Reservoir.