'Pretty scary to think that's enough venom to kill about, I'm not even joking, 50,000 people. 'It's serious, toxic stuff.' 9News
With agile sleight of hand, Billy Collett - operations manager at the Australian Reptile Park on NSW's Central Coast - hooks the three-metre reptile and carefully grabs it by the tail.Billy Collett holds up an eastern brown snake, which is part of the Australian Reptile Park's venom program.Behind each glass door is a highly venomous Australian snake.
Despite being Australia's deadliest snake, responsible for the most fatalities, Collett said eastern browns are not the most difficult to handle.Billy Collett said he personally finds coastal taipans the most difficult to handle."I personally find them the most challenging to handle."The coastal will wait for the exact perfect moment to strike.The comments came as 9news.com.
The programs are estimated to have saved more than 25,000 lives since their inception, with deadly bites plummeting dramatically.Despite being home to 21 of the 25 most toxic snakes in the world, Australia only has, on average, one to two snake bite fatalities each year."We milk each snake species once a fortnight, and then we refrigerate the venom, and freeze dry it," Collett said, holding up a vial of crystallised taipan venom."It's serious, toxic stuff.
Collett said one vial of snake antivenom takes about 30 milkings, whereas spider antivenom takes a whole "lot more". "I need to do that four times a year, and the males only live for about 12 months, whereas we can have a taipan live for about 15 years."Even if we have to go out until 2am trying to find one."Rows of clear plastic containers line the shelves of this small room.The funnel-webs sourced for the venom program are housed in a separate building in a cool, dark room.
In Australia, the provision of antivenom to bite victims is free of charge but for hospitals, vials can cost between $400-1000."Maybe 20 per cent of people, not quite, are allergic to snake antivenom."You will know within about two, three minutes if you are."They'll cut you off, hit you with adrenaline and introduce it to the feeding bag."
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