environmentalism gone wild

Was just reading a letter from my leasing office here in wonderful apartment-land, and it seems that copperhead snakes are "a 'protected' species and cannot be legally harmed" because they're indigenous to southern Maryland. Yeah, that's right. A poisonous snake that has no obvious positive effect on civilization or the natural environment cannot be harmed. So they can harm us at will, but we can't harm them to prevent them from harming us. What the heck kind of bullbleep is that? What could possibly possess some numbskull somewhere in the government to give these things any kind of protection? The world is better off without them. Oh, they eat other stuff? Let modern technology take care of that. Or introduce a bunch of king snakes to the area and let them feast on the critters. Come to think of it, they'll also keep the copperhead population in check. Win-win, baby.

People can't kill poisonous snakes on their own property. What a nanny state we're living in these days. Ain't freedom great?