"The drivers park and are ushered beyond a timber cottage into a tin shed by a woman with a rattle snake on her cap. It promises to be a hot and sticky day, but Christina Zdenek wears a long sleeve khaki shirt, tight black jeans, thick socks and heavy boots. If you wouldn't mind, she says, handing out legal documents to those who enter, signing your life away."
"Participants are also given a workbook on Australian snakes, their toxins and techniques for handling them which they are cautioned to follow strictly. There's always a death or a very severe injury behind all these rules, Zdenek says. Some students will have never picked up a snake before in their life by day's end, they will be expected to have caught and bagged 10, culminating with the world's most venomous: the inland taipan."
In the Lockyer Valley, a venomous snake-handling course runs from a tin shed where participants sign legal documents and receive workbooks on Australian snakes, toxins and handling techniques. The course enforces strict rules because of the risk of death or severe injury. Students, some with no prior experience, must catch and bag ten snakes during the day, ending with the inland taipan. Instructor Christina Zdenek and her husband Chris Hay run the Australian Reptile Academy. The number of snake catchers across Australia has increased markedly, with organisers describing the trend as a growing fad.
Read at www.theguardian.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]