Tucson residents have been seeing a massive increase in the number of rattlesnake encounters, reported KVOA News 4 Tucson.
According to a local fire department, it's seeing a surge in the number of calls about rattlesnakes.
Scott Robb of Golder Ranch Fire District said, "We have over 500 snake calls in the past month and that's much higher than we normally have this time of year." That particular fire district has seen a whopping 30 percent increase in rattlesnake calls this year .
Robb explained, "Last Monday, we've had 31 calls. We never had that many in a 24-hour period."
So what's causing the surge? According to local experts the uptick in wildlife encounters, including rattlesnakes, is due to the plentiful monsoon rains.
Jeff Carver of Arizona Animal Experts said, "A lot of the rodent population is surviving that wouldn't survive through a drought so that means there's a whole lot more food for them."
The Golder Ranch Fire District has two different utility trucks that are used to run snake calls. Robb said, "We catch the snakes so nobody has to put themselves in danger."
If you see a rattlesnake, stand still and throw something to the other side of it, like a tree branch or a hat, to redirect it the other way. Rattlesnakes are motion oriented and this will help to point it away.