Three of the juvenile snakes have been found, and administrators are clearing brush and closing off areas to rid the pests. John Cadiz Klemack reports for the NBC4 News at 5 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 7, 2014.
Three rattlesnakes found in the last three weeks on the campus of an elementary school in Van Nuys are concerning parents and school officials.
People at Valerio Street Elementary School have spotted three juvenile rattlesnakes, each less than a foot long, in the school’s yard.
Los Angeles Unified School District officials said the district is taking an aggressive approach in eliminating the pests, including pruning trees and clearing brush where the snakes could conceal themselves.
The areas where the snakes were already found have been sectioned off for the time being, said Robert Laughton, the district’s facilities management deputy director. He added that they’re trying to eliminate food, shelter and water sources so the snakes don’t come onto the property in the first place.
Officials aren't sure where the snakes came from — offering up possibilities that someone could have released them, or come from a lot across the way that recently became vacant.
Experts from Animal Control and the Los Angeles Zoo told administrators that finding a rattlesnake on the San Fernando Valley floor is extremely rare.
Nobody at the school has been bitten or injured as a result of the snakes.
