Key Points
- A man died from a suspected snake bite in Queensland on Saturday.
- It is the second fatal snake bite in the state within a few months.
- While some states have exceptions, it is actually illegal to catch and kill a snake.
With snakes more active in Australia during summer and two deaths from snake bites in the past few months, experts are urging people to act with caution if they encounter one of the reptiles.
On Saturday, a man in his 60s died in Queensland from a suspected snake bite. It is believed a brown snake bit his hand at a private property at Kensington Grove — about 70km west of Brisbane — that morning.
Another fatal snake bite in in November 2022 prompted the local council to urge people to take extra precautions against the risk of snake bite during the summer months.
Matthew Stopforth says he's captured snakes in a variety of places and they are surprisingly good at getting into different places. Source: Supplied / Central Coast Snake Catchers
How often are people bitten in Australia?
According to the CSIRO, Australia is home to more than 200 species of snakes, of which about two-thirds are venomous, , meaning their bites could be life-threatening.
Research has identified sub-Saharan Africa and south and south-east Asian countries have the highest rate of fatal snake bites.
While South Africa has been found to record an average of from snake bite each year, about two or three deaths from snake bite are usually recorded in Australia annually.
What to do if you see a snake?
Matthew Stopford has been catching snakes for much of his life after learning the skill from his father, and now runs a snake-catching business in NSW's Central Coast region.
While the calls become few and far between during winter, he can get up to three or four calls a day during the height of summer.
In recent months, Mr Stopford has been called to deal with snakes in a variety of places including an adult shop, another lounging in the sun on someone's dining room chairs, a school classroom, dental clinic and even one floating in a pool filter.
He said while every situation depended on the circumstances, if a person comes across a snake in the wild, they should keep their distance and do their best not to startle the animal.
“Take a few steps backwards, you might be able to take a couple of photos, walk around it keeping your distance and keep on going,” Mr Stopford said.
“Snakes don't chase you, but if you startle a snake, especially brown snakes, they’ll stand up they'll come towards you."
He said a snake would generally only bite a human if they stepped on the animal or tried to catch it, as this would make them feel threatened.
When a snake is on your property or even in your home, Mr Stopford said a trained professional should be called to remove it.
“In NSW, if you catch or kill a snake without a license, it’s up to a $10,000 fine and possible prison time,” he said.
Similar penalties are in place across Australia but when quizzed in the past, some authorities such as those in Western Australia have said people in immediate danger who killed a snake would not face penalties.
Services like Mr Stopford's do charge a fee, but some volunteer snake catchers do operate in some areas.
Keep your eyes on the snake
Mr Stopford said the one mistake many people make when they have a snake in their house or yard is taking their eyes off it.
“Be watching where it goes and what's going on because they are amazing at hiding and if you take your eyes off it, you can lose it and when the snake catcher gets there, they might not find it,” he said.
Mr Stopford’s preferred method of catching snakes is picking them up by the tail, and he said he’s never been bitten.
He puts them into a bag and relocates them to Crown land within 20 kilometres of where they were captured.
Source: Supplied / Central Coast Snake Catcher
He said people would be surprised at the places snakes could get themselves into, having dealt with many venomous brown snakes in homes in and around Sydney, as they can get through gaps in windows, roller door garages and small holes in floorboards.
What to do in case of a snake bite?
While many Australians may have grown up having been taught to tourniquet a snake bite, doing so could actually cause more harm and snake bite victims are .
Queensland Health advises people to call an ambulance immediately, no matter what type of snake they think was involved.
Mr Stopforth said while it was important to remove oneself from immediate danger (don’t sit down next to the snake that just bit you) someone who has been bitten by a snake needs to limit their movement.
“Remove all tight jewellery and stuff like that because you will swell two or three times over the body area," he said.
“The best thing is a pressure bandage, wrap the bandage two or three times over the bite area, down to the bottom of the limb and then back up again,” he said.
Snakes' calendars getting mixed up
Mr Stopforth said while the amount of snake activity the past year had not been out of the usual, he had noticed an "inconsistency".
"The snakes don't know what time of year it is," he said.
"They don't know what's going on because of all the rains and all the floods and stuff like that, the weather's all over the place and temperatures are all over the place.
"We were catching snakes that were pregnant during the winter, normally they mate in spring and then have the young, so everything's a bit haywire," he said.
Queensland snake catcher Casey Sholten said while he hadn't noticed too much of a difference in snake behaviour recently, he did notice snakes in the area had become more active a few weeks later than they had in previous years.
With AAP.
