Owl, Snake and Dove

The wildlife in Blade Runner is minimal. Those that do appear are symbolic, and added to emphasize a theme or central point in the film. The snake is introduced as part of Zhora's act as a dancer in Taffey's Snake Pit Bar. This is early in the movie after Deckard finds a snake scale in the bathtub of Leon's apartment and follows up on the lead, eventually tracing Zhora to Taffey's bar. Deckard asks Zhora if the snake is real and she implies no, since it is not affordable to own a real snake. This scene serves to tell the viewer that animals and wildlife are mostly extinct in the year 2019. This is more evidence of the earth's decay, since the environment is no longer suitable for animals. Science and technology may be able to create strikingly similar duplicates, like the Replicants, but the damage...