# Hahaha I just killed a Brown Snake!



## moosenoose (Nov 21, 2005)

Feeling angry about the title???? I know this will probably get people a little hot under the collar, but I am well sick of having people coming up to me on a Monday morning (quite regularly) and telling me how either themselves or one of their ?brave? friends chased down a snake, of some kind, over the weekend with a ride on mower or dissected it with a shovel! It makes me absof*******lutely Rope-able!!!! 

I?d love to know if anyone, ever, in the history of our wildlife laws on the protection of these native animals has ever been fined or even charged over such an offence?? If I threw the shoe on the other foot, how would these people react if I came in and happened to mention that I chased down a young Corgi with a ride on mower and then laughed my ass off after mincing it!!! My guess is they wouldn?t be laughing! So, where's the difference? Why knowingly come up to someone who admires these animals and attempt to bait them into punching their lights out? Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr :evil: 

When will they get it through their thick heads that this practice is *ILLEGAL* and comes with the additional luggage an extremely hefty fine!! 

I can personally understand people?s fear of snakes and issues regarding the safety of children on rural properties etc. as I know a couple who lost their young daughter to an encounter with an eastern brown many years ago, so it's not an imaginery concern people have. But for people to put themselves at risk attempting to kill these animals is stupidity personified!

There, I?ve had my Monday morning gripe!! So who?s coming to the VHS meeting on Friday night? lol


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## peterescue (Nov 21, 2005)

Start pinning up animal cruely stories at work.


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## OuZo (Nov 21, 2005)

> So who?s coming to the VHS meeting on Friday night?



Me 

Could you call the department on em? Or whoever it's supposed to be that you call when someone's been illegally killing native wildlife? Or hurt them badly. Either way


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## Guest (Nov 21, 2005)

When will they get it through their thick heads that this practice is ILLEGAL and comes with the additional luggage an extremely hefty fine!! 

When the powers that be actually prosecute someone.


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## moosenoose (Nov 21, 2005)

Hmm I was going to ring the DSE (just out of interest, but I don't want to waste my time as I know what the answer will most likely be) and actually ask them if they could give me an estimate to the numbers of people , if any, have ever actually been fined each year. 

It's one thing to accidently run over one with a car, but to purposefully drive a shovel through the animal it is another issue. These people would be outraged if I went out clubbing penguins with a cricket bat! (Now, that does sound entertaining! j/k lol)


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## zard (Nov 21, 2005)

i have never heard of anyone being prosecuted, not even the old bag who told of her terrifying snake ordeal to a national mag!!!


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## Mcdowelli (Nov 21, 2005)

The problem is that it is illegal to kill a snake unless it is endangering the life of a human or domesticated animal. People are able to claim that by the snake being there it is endangering their life. Really pathetic law really.


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## zulu (Nov 21, 2005)

*re Haha*

Yeh i know what you mean moose but you want stop people killing snakes and its hard for national parks or whatever they call themsrlves this week to prosecute them.I remember trying to convince some land holders on the escarpment around wollongong not to kill snakes,they would be pretty good with the diamond snakes but i couldnt stop them killing the others especially blacks and tigers.Mate all protection of reptiles does really is stop the mass collection of lizards and snakes for sale in petshops and i used to see the result,like one petshop at cabramatta before protection sold whatever.Must have come from truckdrivers i reckon,heaps of alpines and common bluetonges,metcalfei full of ticks etc diamond pythons and even an imbricata.The onley reall way to stop people killing snakes is through educational programs at schools etc .Even my brother killed a brown snake last year ime fighting a losing battle with some veomous types like browns for sure mate. Cheers colin.


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## BROWNS (Nov 21, 2005)

I know there are a lot of variables,but every time i get told a similar story i tell the people that if they were game enough to get close enough to give the shovel treatment they could just as easily moved it out of harms way for the snake and people involved.

I wonder what the laws are for squishing feral cats and the like?Keeping reptiles in Australia is a hobby that is getting bigger and bigger all the time so it's about time that something should be done about these things,especially when nobody is in possible harms way but the poor old rbbs or black gts or water pythons which commonly get mistaken for black snakes cop the shovel for no good reason.

Still my favourite get back is what someone here suggested with putting a rubber life like snake on a piece of wood with heaps of sharp nails in it and off the sideline of the road is a cracker :evil:


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## moosenoose (Nov 21, 2005)

BROWNS said:


> Still my favourite get back is what someone here suggested with putting a rubber life like snake on a piece of wood with heaps of sharp nails in it and off the sideline of the road is a cracker :evil:



Hahahahaha if it wasn't for the possibility of creating a serious road accident I'd certainly be up for making a couple of those! lol


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## munkee (Nov 21, 2005)

To me the venomous ones cop it the worst. Most people don't like things that can kill them Especially when they can hide in small nooks and crannies. I grew up in lismore (I consider it semi rural) and I never heard of anyone killing the carpets around, The browns and red bellies if found were killed generally. They do carry a risk with them being around kids and people that aren't too smart. 
The comment 'the only good snake is a dead one' is still far too common for my liking.


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## Scale_Addiction (Nov 21, 2005)

i remember reading the exact literature on the laws of killing snakes, and basicly, it is deemed lawful to kill a snake if it enters a human zone and pose a threat AND if it COULD enter a human zone and pose a threat. in another words, if a king brown is chillin anywhere nearby you can kill it... the only time you could be fined is if you actually went into the scrub hunting them.


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## SLACkra (Nov 21, 2005)

thats what the person i work with at the stockfeed told me. her hubby killed a snake. i asked why and she goes oh the dogs and the horses. 

i was just pissed off by this. they killed it just on the off chance it would kill their flamin horse/dogs. he should have called up a snake catcher and gotten it relocated!!! 

think about it people say their a threat to themselves or their animals, if people find this a reason for chopping up an animal with a spade then why haven't we done this to ourselves?!?


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## snakey (Nov 21, 2005)

G'day all Christian here,personally i think it's a load of crap
that people kill snakes for any reason whether they're endangering
someone's life or just cruising around checking out the sites.
As i've always said they were here alot longer than we were so we should be the ones needing relocating,but i think it's a battle that will never be one unless every time we see a person killing a snake we either report them or club them (maybe that's a little bit too Extreme).I absolutely agree with you moose til next time. 8)


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## yommy (Nov 21, 2005)

I think anyone that thinks the best snake is a dead needs to have their head examined. What ever happened to having a healthy respect for them and giving them space to retreat or escape. People who instist on going out of their way to deliberately kill a snake will one day end up bitten, and I have no sympthy for them, it's just karma.
Like what was previously mentioned. That's what professional snake removers are for. My 5 cents.


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## dobermanmick (Nov 21, 2005)

There lowlifes trying to be tough guys 
Love the rubber snake idea :lol: lol


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## rodentrancher (Nov 22, 2005)

Hmmm??? Moosey? Just heard tonight, worse luck, that the neighbour over the road from us had a 1 ft or there abouts baby brownie in his shower this morning. He got rid of it by killling with a broom. He was pretty worried about his two little girls as well, maybe being bitten?? He's a solo dad trying to do his best by his girls. I said well, where would it get in?? He knows, there is one hole that they can get in through his Laundry floor. Tomorrow it will be sealed off! And I also said that it was time to slash/mow the block right now! And there is another neighbour I will voice come concerns re the overgrowth of grass/weeds etc. Cheers Cheryl


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## instar (Nov 22, 2005)

On a positive note, the shovel brigade are a dying breed these days, slowly but surely, general awareness throughout australia of our wildlife is sinking in, much due to tv shows
which feature wildlife becoming more prevelant, and even, weather you like him or not, blokes like sir crikey, do their part to promote general awaresness profauna.
Every bit counts, every person educated/given a more realistic outlook regards snakes, counts.
And as our hobby grows more and more popular, antiquated notions like these become harder and harder to defend.
Keep pushing the message folks!


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## beknluke (Nov 22, 2005)

My uncle and aunty live on 50 acres in the snowy mountains. If I had a dollar for every time that they have spotted a brown and then turned around and walked in another direction, I would be rich!
I am very lucky to come from a family who have a healthy respect for that which was here first, and who understand that our fence is not going to tell the snakes to stay away.
I am sure that some people would feel the same about spiders in their homes and the way how people kill them. I try my absolute best to pick them up with a 1.5mt cobweb broom and relocate to them to the nearest tree. White tails FREAK me out, but I will always try to not kill them if I can avoid it.
I also have a friend who owns a property out bush somewhere who breeds greyhounds. Just last week 3 puppies were killed by a king brown. They accepted their losses and moved on coz in their mind, the snake was just defending itself against three puppies who thought it was a toy.
Like Inny has say, all we can do is support those who do the right thing, and 'keep pushing the msg' to those who don't.


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## Surfcop24 (Nov 22, 2005)

All of those people that think "A good snake is a Dead snake" really **** me....

Can anyone tell me where you can find the law about killing a snake....And the apparent fine...
I might Print it up and post it around work....


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## Hickson (Nov 24, 2005)

This story isn't really in the same vein as the thread, but might be something worth thinking about.

Just last week I was in the Queensland Gemfields. One afternoon, I'd just finished fossicking around for sapphires in some dirt out the back of one of the stores and as I walked back into the shop sombody discharged a rifle in front of the shop. A few seconds later they fired again. I asked the shopowner what her husband was shooting (expecting her to say 'rabbits' or something similar) and she replied "A King Brown". Apparently it had just come in through the open front door of the shop, stopped less than 10 ft from a couple of six year old kids, then went outside and hid in some rocks.

They said they didn't want to kill it, as they hate killing things (and I believe them on that point), but when it comes to the safety of the children of visitors to their shop they feel they have little choice. They would prefer to relocate it but there is no-one in their little town that is capable of doing that. Another reason they would prefer to relocate is because they don't like discharging rifles around six yr old kids.

I went out and had a look at it's body a few minutes later. There was a hole in its middle, and most of it's head had been blown away by the second shot. Dorsal was a uniform pale sandy colour with some black edging to some of the scales. I flipped over it's ant-covered body and saw that each ventral had at least two large bright orange spots. My guess is that it wasn't a King Brown, but an Eastern Brown (or a Western). Bit hard to tell with the head blown away. 

Eastern Brown + kids. Not a good equation.



Hix


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## Kenshin (Nov 25, 2005)

i know someone who always does the rubber snake idea but he places them off the side so people have to swerve out of the way to hit them................. and i have gotten in brawls over people chopping snakes up..... its the whole outlook people have on snakes and they are to close minded to learn anything or even listen to reason about snakes


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## JeffHardy (Nov 25, 2005)

Surfcop24 said:


> All of those people that think "A good snake is a Dead snake" really poo me....
> 
> Can anyone tell me where you can find the law about killing a snake....And the apparent fine...
> I might Print it up and post it around work....



Go to http://www.austlii.edu.au/ and you can search all Australian legislation


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## steve6610 (Nov 25, 2005)

hi all, 
i've got to admit i was one of those "a good snake is a dead snake" person, thats how i was bought up, it wasn't from being afraid of them, just the way i was told to treat them, but after seeing the light i now know better, i now have learnt to just let them be, ( we keep 26 snakes now and have our first lot of eggs cooking ),
just a side note, the best way to change a person from feeling this way is to take the time to show them how good snakes can be, just having a go at somebody for feeling they have to kill all snakes will not change their mind, take the time and if possible invite them over to see your collection and show them how nice they can be, it may not work everytime, but it only has to work once to be good for our wild snakes, this is what happened with myself and some of my family, just take the time as it's worth it in the end, 

cheers,
steve........
ps. i haven't hurt a snake for over 5 years now and have owned my snakes for almost 4 years, so it does work,


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## peterjohnson64 (Nov 25, 2005)

Hi Team,

I have had a couple of littel wins recently that wont help the local brown snake pupulation too much. I live in an area that has RBB's and Browns. Of course, people kill both. But because they kill the RBB's they increase the brown population because there are no red bellies to eat them. I am now convinving people not to kill the blacks because they eat the browns. A small win but I think a good one. If only we could get Don Burke or someone like that on side.

Of couse, I still dont condone killing browns but as a post above says "browns & 6yo kids dont mix".


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## SLACkra (Nov 25, 2005)

just a thought with that rubber snake idea. they should totaly do something like a police type thing. stick the rubber snake on the side of the road. if they serve to run over it they get a fine. 

if i remember correctly in the US to catch turkey poachers(people who shoot wild ones without licences or out of season) they setup a fake male turkey near a road. if a car stops and some one shoots at the fake turkey hes fined or something. 

andrew


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## Hickson (Nov 25, 2005)

> If only we could get Don Burke or someone like that on side.



He is on side.


> stick the rubber snake on the side of the road. if they serve to run over it they get a fine.


There's a word for that - Entrapment.



Hix


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## indicus (Nov 26, 2005)

It has always amazed me;
that alot of people love to tell you stories of killing snakes;
once you've told them your passionate about reptiles.... 
Whats with that??? :? be like telling a Birdo;
you shoot cockatoos for the hell of it....ridiculous!!! :roll: 
While i'm thinking about it;
some people often charge a wack to relocate snakes these days.
I can fully understand the cost involved; with fuel prices, running costs, time etc...
However, i feel it's similar to being a wildlife carer etc; you do it for the animals; for the love of it.
Unfortunately some people would rather kill a snake then pay :evil: ; IMO.


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