Clasping a Viper to His Breast?

It's amazing how bigoted people can be about certain animals. Alexander Chancellor, for example, can see no utility in the 'adder' unless their conservation can be used as an argument against the development of wind farms (which he likes even less) in his native Northamptonshire (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2011/nov/24/emulate-christ-tribunal-cheek-slapped?INTCMP=SRCH). He doesn't seem to appreciate, in his Chancellorocentric view of the natural world, that the snake only bites people and their animals when they pick it up or tread on it (it's a waste of its hard-generated venom as the snake can't swallow them). Vipera berus is an important part of the ecology of many areas, as it largely feeds on rodents with the potential to show population explosions. The snake's loss from areas is generally a sign that the environment has suffered from intensive agriculture or urbanisation. The adder is actually a beautifully adapted little beast with the largest geographical range (southern Italy to the high Arctic) of any reptile. It's a good job that Alexander doesn't live in India or Australia as the tiger or the shark would be respectively doomed.