Catcher snaky over MP
Snezana the one
A SNAKE catcher has invited a Queensland Senator to return to the Far North for a real taste of reptiles, after the politician joked that Cairns was “dead to him” because of its pythons.
Sunshine Coast based LNP Senator James McGrath revealed his fear of snakes this week, after tweeting about two photographs of pythons spot- ted in different locations across northern Queensland, that surfaced on social media.
A Cairns bushwalker posted a photograph she took of a massive scrub python on Earl Hill at Trinity Park, taken several months ago.
And a Townsville snake catcher posted a photograph of a 2.4m carpet python that he had to remove from a toilet.
Mr McGrath tweeted that he “almost passed out from fear in Senate QT (Question Time) looking into that toilet”.
The former campaign director and adviser to the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, also said that he was “scared” about the python on the Cairns path.
“Trust me. I am never ever going into the forest again,’’ he wrote. “Cairns is dead to me.” Cairns Snake Removals operator David Walton said it was ridiculous for the politician to be so afraid of pythons. “Those pythons are such placid, easygoing, slow-moving creatures,’’ he said.
“It’s only if you interfere with it, that it will try to grab hold of you.”
Scrub pythons are Australia’s largest snake species, growing to lengths of 8.5m. They are non-venomous and generally regarded as harmless to humans.
They frequently
target kangaroos, wallabies and even domestic pets as prey.
Mr Walton said there was no evidence that the snakes had ever consumed humans as prey in Australia.
“There’s been plenty of children that have been grabbed and wrapped up by them, but that’s only because they’ve gone and grabbed it, or poked it with a stick, or done something to interfere with it,’’ he said. TEARS fell across the nation as Sam Wood declared he had fallen “madly in love” with last Bachelor girl standing Snezana Markoski.
And when he slid a diamond ring on her finger saying he wanted her to “think about him every day” we all wondered – did we just witness their engagement?
“It wouldn’t really look at them as a meal.”
He invited Mr McGrath to return to Cairns to be taught about the realities of the reptiles, including their important role within the rainforest environment as apex predators.
When asked whether he would take Mr Walton up on his offer, the Senator said he would. “It would be what is called a Kodak moment, as I am terrified of snakes,’’ he said.
While stating marriage was on the cards down the track, Wood said he hasn’t proposed. Instead, it was because Markoski’s right hand was already loaded up with jewellery that he reached for her engagement finger.
“One day, but not at the end of the TV show,” he said. And as for more kids? “We’re just having good practice,” Wood laughed.