By Adriane Reardon, ABC<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\nA tiger snake was retrieved from a vehicle after slithering across a car passenger’s foot.
\nPhoto: Supplied\/VRA Rescue NSW Narooma via ABC\n<\/p>\n
A passenger in a car has had the fright of his life, after a tiger snake slithered across his feet during a drive on the NSW far south coast.<\/p>\n
Tanny Parsons was in the car with his friend and a pet dog in Narooma on Friday, when he felt something touch his feet.<\/p>\n
Parsons, who was barefoot, initially thought it might have been a plastic bag, before realising it was actually a snake.<\/p>\n
“I felt something on my feet, I looked down and this large snake was just across my feet,” he said.<\/p>\n
“I just yelled out to my friend to stop the car, get the dog and jump out.<\/p>\n
“It gave me a hell of a fright.”<\/p>\n
Shock of your life<\/p>\n
The car had been parked in Parson’s driveway in Tilba Tilba for about six weeks while he was in Victoria visiting family.<\/p>\n
The incident happened the day after he returned home, after he went grocery shopping in Narooma.<\/p>\n
Parsons said it was not uncommon to see snakes on his property, and they do not bother him.<\/p>\n
But encountering one in a car was a different story.<\/p>\n
“It was the shock of your life to see a snake in your car in such a small space where you’ve got nowhere to go,” he said.<\/p>\n
“It’s a very small space to have your feet and have a snake there.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\nThe VRA members had to search the vehicle, and dismantle parts of it, to find the snake.
\nPhoto: Supplied\/Tanny Parsons via ABC\n<\/p>\n
After jumping from the car, Parsons began making calls to find a snake catcher.<\/p>\n
Malcolm Barry, captain of VRA Rescue NSW in Narooma, came to his aid.<\/p>\n
He and his daughter, Sarah, who are both trained snake handlers, searched the vehicle and dismantled parts of it to find the snake.<\/p>\n
It took some time, but they eventually located the tail.<\/p>\n
“They tend to puff themselves up if they’re grabbed by the tail, and they won’t come out,” Barry said.<\/p>\n
“You have to wait for them to relax and come out that way.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\nIt took some time for the VRA to locate the snake in the vehicle.
\nPhoto: Supplied\/VRA Rescue NSW Narooma via ABC\n<\/p>\n
The VRA members used a hook to lift the snake out and put it in a bag, where they were met with a round of applause from onlookers.<\/p>\n
Parsons initially thought it was a brown snake, but VRA informed him afterwards that it was actually a five-foot tiger snake.<\/p>\n
Tiger snakes are highly venomous, but are generally considered more aggressive than a brown snake in nature.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\nCaptain of the Narooma VRA Rescue squad, Malcolm Barry, helped retrieve the snake.
\nPhoto: Supplied\/VRA Rescue NSW Narooma via ABC\n<\/p>\n
Patience is key<\/p>\n
Barry has relocated nearly 400 snakes in the region over the past three years.<\/p>\n
He said pythons, black, brown and tiger snakes were common in the region, especially as the weather warms up.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\nThe tiger snake has been released back into the wild.
\nPhoto: Supplied\/VRA Rescue NSW Narooma via ABC\n<\/p>\n
Barry commended Parsons for keeping calm, given the unique situation.<\/p>\n
“He was relatively calm for someone who had a snake all over his feet while driving,” he said.<\/p>\n
“We’ve pulled snakes out of homes and hidden behind furniture, but it’s our first car.<\/p>\n
“It wasn’t a close call, there was no hint of the snake biting, it was actually a pretty easy catch.”<\/p>\n
It is suspected that rats, which are a perfect food source for snakes, had made their way into the car while Parsons was out of town.<\/p>\n
Parsons gave the VRA a donation as a thank you for their help on the day.<\/p>\n
The snake has since been released back into the wild at Corunna Lake.<\/p>\n
– ABC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Adriane Reardon, ABC A tiger snake was retrieved from a vehicle after slithering across a car passenger’s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":89449,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[48,47,111,43,139,69,49,46,44,45,147,406],"class_list":["post-89448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-audio","tag-current-affairs","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-podcasts","tag-public-radio","tag-radio-new-zealand","tag-rnz","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89448"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89448\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}