Around two and a half tons of western diamondback rattlesnakes are rounded up each year for the festival, which was founded in 1958 as a way to control the population.<br />Thousands of people, including families with young kids, flocked to take part in festivities this weekend at the Nolan County Coliseum in Sweetwater, Texas.<br />Children watched in awe as handlers tipped buckets of venomous snakes into a writhing pit.<br />Handlers grabbed them safely behind the jaws so children could stroke them up close.<br />And it took four men to hold the largest wriggling reptiles down on a table so they could be measured for the biggest snake contest.<br />The bloodiest part is the skinning pit, where people can try their hand at pulling off the pelts - which are preserved and used as leather.<br />Heads are pickled in jars complete with exposed fangs, while the flesh is chopped into nuggets and deep fried.<br />The hungriest competitors went head to head in the eating contest.<br />And teenage girls vied to be crowned Miss Snake Charmer.<br />This year's winner, Avery Schiffner, 16, greeted festival-goers with a live snake coiled round her neck.<br />There was also a guided hunt on the outskirts of town, a carnival parade and a gun show.<br />Texas Governor Greg Abbott lifted a mandate requiring face masks and limits on bars and restaurants from March 10, just in time for the 2021 roundup.<br />The festival has been criticized by animal rights and environmental groups for the way the snakes are rounded up using gasoline fumes to drive them from their dens.<br />The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has expressed concerns about how it could impact other species that share their habitat.<br />McCann said: "If someone could come up with a better way of killing rattlesnakes so we can keep doing our event, then please come teach me. I'd love to have that discussion.
