An eastern brown snake got close and personal with a Gold Coast snake catcher on Friday, slithering between her legs as she sat on the ground enjoying her smoko.
The 24-year-old demonstrated exactly what to do if approached by a snake in the wild, helping to debunk the “aggressive stigma” attached to these animals.
WATCH IN THE VIDEO ABOVE: Gold Coast snake catcher’s extraordinary encounter with brown snake.
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The snake had just been captured in a standard catch-and-release after being found underneath a fridge in Mount Tamborine in south east Queensland.
It was released into the wild, but turned around and headed straight for Ayla Manson – who is five months new to the job at Harrison’s Gold Coast and Brisbane Snake Catchers.
Using her recent training, Manson remained incredibly calm as the snake – one of the most deadly in the world – began sliding around her legs and groin.
“Is this the snake chasing you Ayla?” fellow snake catcher Tony Harrison can be heard asking in a video posted to Facebook.
“Yeah I think he’s onto me,” Manson replies as the snake approaches her.
“He’s onto you all right. It’s all good, you’re all right,” Harrison says.
As the snake loiters between her legs, Manson starts to voice some discomfort but continues to remain calm.
“He’s up my pants,” she says. “I don’t like that.
“I can’t see his head, Brooke, you watch that.”
“He’s OK, he was sniffing your butt,” fellow snake catcher Brooke says.
“I felt that,” Manson says.
As the snake continues through her legs and departs into the wild, Manson moves from her mime-like stillness to give the reptile a smile and thumbs up.
She described the snake’s personality to 7NEWS as “quite chill”.
The snake-catching team said they released the footage to raise awareness about the true nature of snakes, and to demonstrate how people should react if they ever see one.
“The stigma around snakes being aggressive or violent has sadly taken over most peoples’ perceptions,” they wrote.
“This is a fantastic example that (snakes) don’t want to hurt us and the only reason they do attack is (because) they’re scared of something significantly larger than them – the bite is only to say back off!
“They are innocent animals that just want to go along … without interference.”
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