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Killing a snake is a risk to your health and the law means it may come back to bite you

By Jesse Thompson
Posted , updated 
The golden tree snake is one of many harmless serpents that may visit your backyard.(Supplied: Darwin Snake Catchers)

As growing rural suburbs encroach wildlife habitat, and tree-filled urban areas remain ripe with critters to eat, the wet season in Darwin has been keeping snake catchers busy.

The after-hours snake catcher's phone runs hot when the first rain hits; Tom Parkin's team has been fielding as many as 10 callouts a day, some of which are hosed down when the snake turns out to pose no threat.

Mr Parkin believes that with people spending more time around home during the holidays, it means there's a higher likelihood of running into snakes that might otherwise go undetected.

And while many Top End snakes are non-venomous, local authorities are concerned about the regularity with which people take matters — and shovels — into their own hands and kill intruding reptiles.

"I think the first thing that people will think of when they come across a snake is chop its head off and work out what it is later," Mr Parkin said.

"We see it a lot, but it's often unnecessary because the snake is harmless and it's also a very dangerous practice."

Despite the legal risk as well, images of people holding decapitated snakes are common on social media pages during the hotter months of the year.

Snakes regularly killed despite risks to wallet, health

All native wildlife is protected, meaning killing an intruding snake may land you in breach of the Territory Parks and Conservation Act.

That means snake killers theoretically put themselves up for heavy penalisation; in the Northern Territory the maximum penalty is up to five years behind bars or a $77,000 fine.

But according to senior Parks and Wildlife ranger Alice Donne, exemptions exist when a snake absolutely poses imminent danger to a person or their pet.

"So it's got to be, say, in the kitchen and there's no other option [but to kill it]," she said.

"It's one of those things where we're not putting wildlife above human safety."

However, the Act also states that exemptions can be applied for when the snake is within 100 metres of an occupied property.

This means that killing snakes is in fact legal on most urban properties but may be illegal in the outer areas of some rural properties.

Still, wildlife experts strongly advise against killing snakes, warning people who do so put themselves at risk of a more serious penalty — severe illness and/or death.

"Statistically speaking, the vast majority of people bitten by snakes in Australia are attempting to catch or kill the snake at the same time," Mr Parkin said.

"A snake will never go out of its way to try and attack a person without a reason."

Will I actually get charged?

So why aren't prisons full of people who unwittingly beheaded a backyard snake?

"We've had prosecutions for people killing snakes, but it's usually in among other wildlife that's been killed as well," Ms Donne said.

Mr Parkin agreed, saying any potential charges could easily be dropped if a person could prove they were in danger.

"I'm pretty sure there isn't a judge in Australia that would convict a person for killing a snake that they felt like they were at risk from, so I don't think it's a law that would be strictly enforced," he said.

"Maybe if someone was killing snakes for commercial reasons or wide-scale killing purposely they would get a conviction.

"But if anyone was that scared of a snake on the property and they killed it, the likelihood of a conviction would be quite small."

But even if prosecutions are rare, Ms Donne said the threat to a person's safety should be the greatest deterrent.

"When you get the shovel out or get the rake out, you're in its strike zone.

"It's just a good way to get yourself bitten."

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