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I entered 'peromyscus polionotus peninsularis' into Google Scholar and got a bunch of hits. I entered that name and 'heterodon', and found nothing. So I agree that this part seems a stretch.
But aside from the fact that the predator-prey relation may not exist, I read 'Protecting the beach mouse means preserving an important food source for owls, snakes, ghost crabs, and other native species' as seeing snakes et al in a positive light, not castigating them. She's saying that even if you don't care about a mouse, think of the other native species that you may care about -- and she even mentions snakes specifically.
The author notes that threats to the mouse include "host of pressures, such as hurricanes, artificial lighting, and invasive predators", none of which are hognose snakes (and 'invasive predators' sure could include cats.
Maybe I'm misreading your point, but I see this as fairly friendly to snakes. But yeah, NatGeo could stand to employ more fact checkers.
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