He's hissed off by state suit to save snakes

By Angela Mosconi Copyright 1999 New York Post March 18, 1999

Jay Montfort is having more trouble with snakes than St. Patrick.

But then again, when St. Patrick drove the creatures out of Ireland there were no bureaucrats around to tell him that snakes were endangered.

Montfort, who owns a stone company in Upstate Fishkill, doesn't want reptiles roaming around his manufacturing site - so he started building a two-mile fence to keep them out.

Then, to his amazement, the state filed suit. It charged, among other things, that the snakes would be "worried" and "disturbed" by the fence.

The two sides are expected to be in court tomorrow.

Montfort said he built the fence because "they're rattlesnakes. They're poisonous. They're deadly.

"It seems pretty fundamental that you should be able to keep deadly things off your property."

But officials say timber rattlesnakes are a threatened species in New York and should have the right to slither freely.

The state, which on March 5 obtained a temporary court order to halt construction, also claims it would have a "disturbing, harrying and worrying" effect on the snakes.

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