Little girl is lucky to be alive after unknowingly picking up one of the world’s most venomous snakes
- Girl, 11, picked up an eastern brown snake while walking through Melbourne
- She filmed the snake entwining around her fingers while on a bush walk
- Snake catcher said the girl was lucky to be alive after holding venomous reptile
An 11-year-old girl is ‘extremely lucky’ to be alive after she filmed herself unknowingly holding one of the world’s most venomous snakes.
The young girl had been on a walk in Newport, in Melbourne’s south-west, when she came across the eastern brown snake – which is responsible for the most snakebite fatalities in Australia.
She filmed the reptile entwined around her fingers, completely unaware of how dangerous the ‘snakey’ was.
The child mistakenly thought the reptile was a harmless garter snake and had no hesitation in picking it up.
The young girl had been on a walk in Newport, in Melbourne’s south-west, when she came across the eastern brown snake – which is responsible for the most snakebite fatalities in Australia
Stewy the Snake Catcher (pictured) said the little girl is incredibly fortunate to be alive after mistaking a deadly snake for a harmless one
Victorian man Stewy the Snake Catcher said it was incredibly fortunate the girl wasn’t harmed after her case of mistaken identity.
‘This is an extremely dangerous eastern brown snake,’ he wrote on Facebook, where he also posted the video.
‘The girl in the video is extremely lucky that she wasn’t bitten by the snake, and her parents should probably go and buy a lottery ticket.’
A grandparent of the girl sent the video to the snake catcher only because he wanted him to identify the reptile.
‘Eastern brown snakes are a nervous snake and are responsible for the most deaths caused by snake bites in Australia,’ Stewy said.
‘This little girl could have actually died from a bite from this snake.’
The child mistakenly thought the reptile was a harmless garter snake and had no hesitation in picking it up
Stewy has issued an urgent warning to ‘please, please, please’ remind children not to interfere or interact with wildlife.
‘Education is the key to making sure these situations never happen,’ he said.
Snake catchers in Victoria are not allowed to post photos or videos online of the snakes they catch, which is making it harder to educate young people about the dangers, Stewy said.
‘We need to teach our kids right from wrong, and handling any wildlife is dangerous, and should be left to the professionals.’
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