Pageant hopefuls decapitate, skin snakes at Rattlesnake Roundup

To win the Miss Snake Charmer beauty pageant requires beauty, grace, talent and a strong stomach. It's probably the only pageant in the country that requires the winner to decapitate and skin a snake.

"Tomorrow I get to skin snakes and chop their heads off, and I am super-excited about it," said Laney Wallace, Miss Snake Charmer 2011.

The pageant kicks off the annual Rattlesnake Roundup festival in this West Texas town. Hunters from as far away as Japan catch as many snakes as possible in the countryside then bring them to the county coliseum for the festival.

"This event is a way for us to help control the population of the western diamondback rattlesnake in our area," says Donnie Willman, a volunteer with the Sweetwater Jaycees who run the event.

The roundup began more than 50 years ago as a way to combat the rattlesnake population that was killing livestock and threatening pets and even people.

"The rattlesnakes were literally coming into Sweetwater, down the streets looking for water," says Willman.

"They bite livestock, they bite the animals, your pets. They'll bite kids, people. They're a very serious problem around here."

The roundup has become a huge part of the town's identity. The Jaycees say 30,000 to 50,000 people attend the roundup each year. It's become as much party as public service event.

"We have a lot of fun doing it. We enjoy it. We're all Jaycees back here in the snake pits," Willman says.MORE