Every spring, in the surroundings of Cocullo (Abruzzo, central Italy), tens of non-venomous native snakes are captured and temporarily housed as part of the celebrations of the Catholic cult of San Domenico. This ancient ritual, historically centered on snakes and once involving their killing or trading, has progressively evolved. Today, the local community places strong emphasis on respect for wildlife and on the conservation of the species involved, which are released at their original capture sites at the end of the celebration.

This unique cultural context has provided the foundation for a citizen science project that has generated a long-term dataset on snake captures since 2010. The dataset includes 1,505 individuals belonging to six species: Elaphe quatorlineata, Hierophis viridiflavus, Zamenis longissimus, Natrix helvetica, Coronella austriaca, and Coronella girondica.

Analyses of this extensive dataset confirm known morphological patterns for all species involved and demonstrate the reliability and safety of microchip tagging for individual identification. The study also corroborates the previously hypothesized observation that E. quatorlineata is the species most frequently captured during the ritual. This is likely due to its large body size, attractive coloration, and docile behavior. While culturally significant, this preference may introduce a bias in the apparent representation of species abundance within the study area.

Most notably, the results support the sustainability of the capture, temporary detention, and release of snakes associated with the ritual. The study highlights how the convergence of cultural tradition and citizen science can generate valuable data for the assessment and conservation of natural populations—even for species that are often perceived as “unpopular” by the general public.

Nevertheless, standardized field studies remain essential to ensure the long-term viability of local snake populations, particularly in the context of increasing climate change and ongoing environmental disturbance.

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