You know it’s summer – and Christmas – in Australia when reports of snake captures in random places come thick and fast.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Take Warrnambool in south-west Victoria.
A tiger snake was flushed out of its hiding place in Lava Street on Monday, the second snake found in the city’s CBD in six weeks.
Port Fairy Pest Control’s Neville Suter said he was called after a tiger snake was seen crawling along the footpath near Hammonds Paints.
The snake had made its way to the front door of a unit next door before it crawled up the PVC storm pipe of the Hammonds building.
Mr Suter flushed it out with water and was able to grab it.
The metre-long snake has been relocated.
In November, a 1.5-metre tiger snake was found in the laneway behind the Aussie Home Loans store in Liebig Street.
Mr Suter said that while snakes had probably always been in the CBD, hiding in grass or behind shops, this year was the first time he’d been called the city centre.
He has also received calls to catch snakes found in the yards of properties in Merrivale.
Mr Suter has received 10 calls about snakes so far this year and typically gets between 50 and 60 calls during the November to April summer season.
He said people needed to be educated not to kills snakes.
Killing a snake can attract fines of up to $20,000, he said, and warned that those that do face up to five years in jail.
“If people try to kill a snake, it will attack,” Mr Suter said.
