Snakehandler bitten by snake - serious brown snake bite this week
NOT SNAKEBUSTERS!
Release
dated 9 March 2010
Snakehandler bitten by brown snake today had tormented the snake in order for him to be bitten twice on the face. The news today of another
novice snake handler getting a near fatal bite from a Brown snake does not come
as a surprise.
The so-called victim, a 35 year
old amateur, had recently completed an ill-conceived “snakehandling” course
taught by a novice snakehandler who had recently purchased a business name and licence to
operate.
The company owner had
no meaningful experience with snakes and should not have been doing his allegedly
nationally accredited snake handling courses.
This is not the first
such serious snakebite incident and will not be the last.
There has been a rash
of cases where newly licenced demonstrators have been carted off to hospital in
ambulances for snakebites, in some cases after being bitten while in the middle
of a demonstration. Behind a lot of these serious bites has been the illegal use of metal "Tongs", as used by novice snake handlers, which cause injury to snakes and as a result provoke the snakes into biting their attackers.
Furthermore, in Victoria, it is
now illegal to demonstrate venomous snakes in public places including schools
and events (with or without killer tongs) unless the snakes have been surgically devenomized, vet certified as
same and micro-chipped, thereby removing risk to either handler or the public.
Only Snakebusters use
vet certified surgically devenomized (venomoid) snakes.
We are the only
company satisfying legal criteria to own these snakes and able to legally
demonstrate venomous species at schools and elsewhere.
Persons considering
live reptile demonstrations for events, schools or elsewhere should take the
recent near fatal snakebites of novice snake handlers associated with rival
demonstrating businesses as a warning against dealing with newly licenced
outfits that may put either themselves or their customers at risk or break the
law to demonstrate venomous species in public places, including schools.
Worksafe have also
indicated that they will prosecute any businesses that put staff or public at
risk, as would occur if demonstrating venomous snakes that are not surgically
devenomized.
Recently a number of
unexperienced and newly licensed reptile demonstrators have touted for school
and shopping mall business, usually making false and exaggerated claims about
their alleged expertise, quoting considerably lower prices to “get their foot
in the door” and simultaneously defaming Snakebusters to shore up their own
relative positions.
Among the false
claims are that the Snakebusters “venomoids” have regenerated venom – they
don’t, and that the Snakebusters snakes are somehow illegal – they are not!
Three
shopping malls who took a punt with these novices (three different companies)
doing shows minus deadly species, all found crowds severely down and complaints
up.
Besides the lack of
the crowd trumping snake and reptile shows associated with Snakebusters, the
novices also generally failed to allow the public the right to hold reptiles,
including snakes, crocodiles, etc, as is standard at Snakebusters shows.
“Hands on reptiles” (exclusive to Snakebusters) became
“Hands off” as the public were only allowed a fleeting touch of a snake who’s
head was held in a “death grip” by the handler. Hence people failed to return to the malls after seeing the rival
demonstrator’s just once. This same
inferior performance is seen at schools who have taken a punt with these
inexperienced outfits.
One mall in
Melbourne’s north that has had Snakebusters twice in past years, averaging 200
people to each twice daily show, was stunned when in the recent holidays,
crowds for a novice act averaged just 25 per “show” by the end of the
week. Even at half the cost of
Snakebusters, that mall, was effectively ripped off by the cheaper company.
Only Snakebusters has
“Snakeman”, Raymond Hoser, internationally regarded herpetologist, author of 9
books, discoverer and namer of numerous species and so on, giving students
face-to-face contact with a world-leader in his field, as opposed to a novice
who may have bought a business name a year back and then makes false and
unsubstantiated claims of expertise.
Today, Snakebusters
director Raymond Hoser, said “It’s after events like the recent near-fatal
bites and poor quality shows at events, malls and schools, that people
appreciate the quality, expertise and reliability of Snakebusters. … people
trust Snakebusters and for good reason.”
“Only Snakebusters
are “zero risk”, not just in terms of safety, but also in terms of giving a
good display.
Snakebusters are alone in the reptile demonstrating industry in that they have a zero safety incident record and with devenomized snakes can guarantee safety at all times.
Snakebusters do not use TONGS to attack and handle snakes and condemns the illegal and cruel use of these devices by other novice snake handlers.
Snakebusters are alone with deadly snakes (that are legal for shows), crocodiles, lizards, frogs, etc, and anything else is only half a show.
Please note that Snakebusters are always heavily booked
and so it pays to book early to secure Snakebusters.