PAINTED POST, N.Y. (WHCU) – A business in Steuben County has had a venomous visitor.

Members of the State’s DEC Wildlife Response Team were recently called to an auto shop in Painted Post for a report of a rattlesnake. Officers identified the serpent as a timber rattlesnake before carefully collecting it and releasing it in a nearby state forest. The snakes are rarely seen but are native to New York. The species is protected by law.

The DEC says not to panic if you encounter one of the snakes. Keep a safe distance of six feet or more and let the animal move away on its own. Timber rattlesnakes are not aggressive unless provoked. Though their venom is fatal, there have been no human deaths attributed to Timber rattlesnakes in New York for several decades. More information is available.