The ABC is used to looking into dark places to uncover the truth but the subject of this story came too close to home overnight, in the form of a baby brown snake.
Key points:
- A baby brown snake was spotted in the ABC’s Adelaide offices
- A snake catcher was called last night and again this morning
- A wing of the building was cordoned off as he searched for the creature
Staff at the ABC’s Adelaide offices at Collinswood were this morning informed of the viperous intruder, with a section of the building closed off as a specialist snake catcher was called in to hunt the fugitive reptile.
“I don’t want to alarm anyone but a note has just come up on my screen saying don’t panic, but there is a brown snake loose in the ABC building,” ABC Radio Adelaide’s Ali Clarke told listeners this morning.
She then spoke to ABC Technology Support’s Clinton Thomas who spotted the snake and raised the alarm.
“Late yesterday afternoon I had a couple of colleagues leaving. I was on the late shift,” he said.
“It was last seen heading towards our workshop and unfortunately I lost sight of it because it went under a desk.”
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Mr Thomas said he suspected the snake may have stowed away with a camera crew that was filming another animal-related story.
“The camera crew that went down and looked at the whale yesterday and looked at the sharks feeding on the whale, they brought a bit of equipment in, which sits in a little backpack, for a bit of a service afterwards, and that bag was sitting under my desk,” he said.
“I reckon maybe it’s crawled into the bag while they were down there at the beach and got into our area. It’s hooked a ride.”
Staff were this morning advised a wing of the building had been closed off, as a specialist viper sleuth was called in to try to locate the animal.
“Property [services] and a snake catcher are looking for a small brown snake,” a note to staff read.
“[An] area is sectioned off while they search.”
Brown snakes are Australia’s deadliest snake and are responsible for up to two deaths a year on average.
While there have been no further sightings of the reptile, snake catcher Dean said it was last spotted heading in the direction of a door.
“My best thoughts are that it’s returned back to the outside natural environment where it belongs,” he said.
He spent two hours last night trying to find the animal before returning this morning, “going through the entire bottom floor of the ABC building” and looking through “every nook and cranny”.
“In a building the size of this it kind of becomes a needle-in-a-haystack scenario and we can only go through a process of elimination,” he said.
“We removed any boxes that were open [and] with a hook we removed anything in those boxes because you don’t want to stick your hands in there without looking.
“Anywhere I thought there was a gap where it could have disappeared we’ve actually laid some tape down, which kind of gets them stuck if they come out and we’re able to remove them off the tape afterwards, which is safe and non-harmful to the snake.”
He said anyone confronted with a brown snake should endeavour to remain calm.
“Keep your movements nice and steady and slow and relaxed. Their vision’s highly movement based — the faster your movements are, the faster they’re going to react.”
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