OUR JENSEN’S A LITTLE CHARMER
JENSEN Harrison, 2, knows no fear when it comes to reptiles, no matter how big they are. It’s no wonder — his father Tony is a snake catcher.
TONY Harrison has a simple theory as to why his twoyear-old son is already a snake catcher extraordinaire.
“I think every kid copies their parents and we eat, sleep and s*** snakes,” he says of his life with Brooke Smith, little Jensen’s mum.
“We’ve got more than 100 reptiles at home so every waking moment is spent around snakes. If we’re not catching or doing shows with snakes, we’re cleaning or feeding them. It’s second nature to him. He thinks everyone else is weird because they don’t have snakes.”
Tony has long been familiar to Bulletin readers, having spent more than 20 years building a successful business relocating creepy crawlies from the homes of grateful Gold Coasters.
Now the snake-catching legend is adjusting to the fact his cute-as-a-button, blondhaired boy is stealing all the attention.
“I knew that by the time he was four, the media would grab hold of it and say ‘oh, how cute is he?’ but I was surprised that even when he was just older than one, he was holding the bag for us,” Tony recalls.
“You should’ve seen him. If it was harmless, we’d hold the head and let him do the bag. Then if it was a venomous one, he’d hand out the business card and invoice (to customers). I was thinking ‘You can’t even speak but you’re on to this’.
“Now if it’s a small snake, I actually step back and let him do the lot. He knows what to do. He’s even at the point where once he’s finished he turns around and waits for the applause (from bystanders). He knows it’s coming.”
Tony also knows criticism will come from those people who see footage of a twoyearhandling a snake and start frothing at the mouth.
“We do get some criticism when we post videos or photos on Facebook but I make sure there is no danger in anything he does at home or in front of the camera,” he says.
“I’m also mindful of how the public perceives things. I know Jensen is quite capable of bagging a 1.5m python but there is the off-chance it could bite him and draw blood, and while it’s not going to kill him, we would get dragged over the coals – and for good reason.
“No one wants their child to get hurt.”
Especially when that child is one you never expected to come along.
“I was 48, so fatherhood was something I never thought was going to happen,” Tony says. “There are no words to describe how proud I am when people say things about him.
“Take the other day at kindy. You know what the kids did while it was rainy and cold? They watched videos on the big screen of Jensen catching snakes. He’s actually teaching the teachers what to do with snakes and that just makes me sit back and go ‘Whoa, how do I deal with this pride I’m feeling?’.”