Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 January 1913 — Value of Snake Skins. [ARTICLE]

Value of Snake Skins.

It Is said to be a hard matter to skin a dead snake so that the skin will remain in good condition; consequently, in many regions of the world where snakes are caught for the purpose ol supplying the market with skins for pocketbooks, belts, etc., the snake le skinned alive, an operation which inflicts upon this arch enemy of man the most intense pain. Some are skinned dead, but the difference in price of skins taken from the dead reptile and those from the one alive does not make the more humane method popular. Dead snakes bring only from 2 to 5 cents, while live ones bring from 25 cents to sl. Sumatra has a number of snake skin factories-, as that tropical island abounds in the ophidian species. When a hunter brings in a live snake, one operator takes it by the neck and another bj the tall, and the reptile la attached by the neck to a tree trunk. A sharj knife is used to cut the akin juat be low the head, and then, while the other holds the anake taut, the first operator peels the akin from th« squirming body. The reptile, minus itc skin, writhes in excruciating pain for an hour or so before it dies.