Our guest speaker was Stewart Gatt, better known as Stewie the Snake Catcher. He has made a career out of catching snakes and relocating them out of harms way. And, in our area, he is always very busy, especially during the hotter months.
The highlights of Stewie's interesting talk were:
- He started the business on a part-time basis in 2009. Due to the increased demand for his services, he went full-time in 2016.
- He operates in the Wyndham and Hobsons Bay areas and is paid by the respective councils to catch snakes.
- Killing snakes is illegal. Not only do you increase the risk of getting bitten, you could be fined and even jailed.
- For every snake that is killed, it increases the chances of a mouse plague.
- 21 of the top 25 most dangerous snakes call Australia home.
- The Eastern Brown and Tiger snakes are the most common in our region. Some Copperheads are also found.
- Tiger snakes usually can be identified by the tiger stripes on its back. However this is not always the case. Some tiger snakes are brown and can be difficult to distinguish from a brown snake.
- One day, Stewie caught a bag of 9 tiger snakes on the Wyndhamvale football oval after flooding in the area.
- A baby snake is just as venomous as an adult.
- Snakes are just as scared of you as you are of them, If you leave them alone they will go away.
- If you are bitten, you should never apply a tourniquet. You should always use a pressure bandage, starting at the bite and working up to the top of the limb.
- Stewie does not use any tools to catch a snake. He simply picks them up by the tail and places them in a bag.
- He must release the captured snakes no more than 5 kilometres from where they were found.
- He has already started catching snakes this season as they start to venture out to bask in the sun.
- New housing developments in Wyndham are forcing the snakes out of their natural habitat.
It seemed that most of the audience now have a new-found respect for snakes as a result of Stewie's fascinating presentation.
