Inland taipan bites teenager

Illegally held, either escaped and the kid found it, or he knows who was keeping it.

There are some real cowboys in the Australian herp scene, and some ******s who think it's cool to keep venomous snakes, the more venomous the better. And many of these dicks don't bother with licenses, and are happy to illegally collect their own stock. There's a good chance the snake was originally with someone like that.

(Of course, not all keepers of venomous snakes are ******s, many are sensible, responsible keepers. But there are enough of the idiots out there to give everyone in the hobby a bad name).

:p

Hix
 
Thought it may have been a keen zoochat member starting his own colection ;)
 
A Bloke with a Snake walks into a Pub. The Barman says "We don't want your Taipan here".
 
Hix said:
Illegally held, either escaped and the kid found it, or he knows who was keeping it.

There are some real cowboys in the Australian herp scene, and some ******s who think it's cool to keep venomous snakes, the more venomous the better. And many of these dicks don't bother with licenses, and are happy to illegally collect their own stock. There's a good chance the snake was originally with someone like that.

(Of course, not all keepers of venomous snakes are ******s, many are sensible, responsible keepers. But there are enough of the idiots out there to give everyone in the hobby a bad name).

:p

Hix
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Totally agree!
 
nanoboy said:
Can this snake be legally held in a private collection?
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Yes - in some States [not all of them] and with a specialist licence.

I have yet to discover why any sane person would want to "keep" any venomous snake if they did not have a professional reason for doing so.

"Mine is bigger than yours" does not qualify as a "professional reason" in my book.
 
Steve Robinson said:
Yes - in some States [not all of them] and with a specialist licence.

I have yet to discover why any sane person would want to "keep" any venomous snake if they did not have a professional reason for doing so.

"Mine is bigger than yours" does not qualify as a "professional reason" in my book.
Click to expand...

What would be considered a professional reason?
 
nanoboy said:
Given that the kid got bitten and was not accompanied by an adult, it is safe to assume that it was illegally kept, and was not used professionally. What's the punishment for keeping one illegally?
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A very safe assumption - this kid is "known".

Punishment? Probably a slap on the wrist with a wet bus ticket.
 
relevant article here on another case: Man fined for illegally possessing reptiles - Yahoo!7 News
1 October 2012

A South Hedland man has been ordered to pay more than $8,000 after illegally possessing almost 100 native reptiles and amphibians.

Adrian Scott Elsum, 39, was found guilty of seven charges under the Wildlife Conservation Act.

Among his unlawful possessions were 11 highly venomous desert death adders.

The animals were seized by wildlife officers from the Department of Environment and Conservation during a search of Elsum's residence in 2010.

He was fined four-and-a-half-thousand dollars plus court costs.

DEC wildlife officer Matt Swan said a collection of reptiles and amphibians was estimated to have a market value of approximately $50,000.

"All of the animals seized are protected fauna in WA and woma pythons are specially protected," he said.

"The penalty handed down to Mr Elsum this week serves as a warning to anyone who might be tempted to take protected fauna unlawfully or who have reptiles in their possession illegally.

"Additionally, licensed keepers must also ensure they abide by the conditions of their licence.

"While the desert death adders were able to be returned to their natural habitat, the remaining animals could not be released due to the risk of introducing disease to wild populations."

Under the Wildlife Conservation Act the maximum penalty for possessing protected fauna is $4000, and up to $10,000 for specially protected fauna.
Anyone who has information about the illegal removal of reptiles or notices any suspicious activity suggesting that reptiles are being kept illegally should call DEC's Wildlife Watch hotline.
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"While the desert death adders were able to be returned to their natural habitat, the remaining animals could not be released due to the risk of introducing disease to wild populations."

Sounds like they destroyed the remaining animals.....

An $8,000 fine does not sound like a lot at all.
 
$8000 is not a lot. A few clutches of womas would pay that off.

The rest of the animals would only be destroyed if they were carrying diseases like OPMV, IBD or Crypto. If they were healthy (and Victoria's DEC behave like NSW) they would have been placed licensed keepers.

:p

Hix
 
Steve Robinson said:
Yes - in some States [not all of them] and with a specialist licence.

I have yet to discover why any sane person would want to "keep" any venomous snake if they did not have a professional reason for doing so.

"Mine is bigger than yours" does not qualify as a "professional reason" in my book.
Click to expand...

In an effort to answer your question for myself personally while I don't currently keep elapids I have done the necessary courses, have my references and have some friends who keep elapids. As soon as I have a stable employment position and residence I can't wait to obtain some elapid species. I'm not one of the "show-off cowboys" people associate with ven keepers and the majority of people I know and know of aren't this way although there are some as pointed out by Hix. For me elapids are beautiful and have a very biased undeserved reputation, that opinion is based on some firsthand experience of captive and wild animals but I'm not going to say I have a lot of experience. I don't show people my pythons, imagine when I get elapids I will most likely not even tell people about it. Elapids are far more active, come in glorious colouration and are different behaviourally compared to pythons.

One very experienced Aussie herper has stated a large scrubby is far more dangerous than venomous snakes.
 
All of what you say about elapids is true, but ...... why do you want to actually "keep" them at your place?

Your friends aren't going to see them, the landlord won't want to know about them - why keep them?

You "most likely" won't even tell people that you have them - how will people know how to help you if you are ever envenomated?

The "very experienced Aussie herper" could more accurately have said that "... a large scrubby "can" be far more dangerous than "some" venomous snakes".

I am not sure why Joe Public wants to keep large scrubbys either!
 
Why keep anything? Why get a tattoo? Why ride a motorbike? People do it because they have some motivation or desire to do it.

When I said I would "most likely" not tell people about it referred to people I don't have a close relationship with that has an element of trust missing. More accurately I would not be inclined to post pictures or details on social media or forums etc, I would be very selective over who I shared certain information with.

Personally I would like to try and expand the keeping and captive breeding knowledge of speckled browns and stephen's bandeds (possibly others) that would be my more hobby related reason. Elapid husbandry especially breeding is not as comprehensively covered compared to other reptiles, so it would be a positive to help secure some knowledge on those species.

I couldn't care less if my friends see them or not why would that matter to me, in fact I would prefer no one saw any of my collection due to security and contamination risk. I also mentioned I would wait to have a stable job and home, although I know many people do rent with vens including some of my friends so it would be a possibility if I desired, but I don't.

I was paraphrasing the statement by that individual so I'm not sure what the direct quote was which is why there were no quotation marks in my comment, I didn't bother looking up the quote as for the purposes of this topic it wasn't necessary. Saying that I agree with his statement still compared to your correction, no offense or not disagreeing either.
 
crocodile_dan said:
Why keep anything? Why get a tattoo? Why ride a motorbike? People do it because they have some motivation or desire to do it.

When I said I would "most likely" not tell people about it referred to people I don't have a close relationship with that has an element of trust missing. More accurately I would not be inclined to post pictures or details on social media or forums etc, I would be very selective over who I shared certain information with.

Personally I would like to try and expand the keeping and captive breeding knowledge of speckled browns and stephen's bandeds (possibly others) that would be my more hobby related reason. Elapid husbandry especially breeding is not as comprehensively covered compared to other reptiles, so it would be a positive to help secure some knowledge on those species.

I couldn't care less if my friends see them or not why would that matter to me, in fact I would prefer no one saw any of my collection due to security and contamination risk. I also mentioned I would wait to have a stable job and home, although I know many people do rent with vens including some of my friends so it would be a possibility if I desired, but I don't.

I was paraphrasing the statement by that individual so I'm not sure what the direct quote was which is why there were no quotation marks in my comment, I didn't bother looking up the quote as for the purposes of this topic it wasn't necessary. Saying that I agree with his statement still compared to your correction, no offense or not disagreeing either.
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If I ever did deside to get vens, the banded form of the Speckled Brown would be my first choice - they are stunning! (I'm not counting Night tigers as vens here, as I am more likely to get them before vens).

:p

Hix
 
I completely agree :) There is nothing terribly striking about them but for some reason I am awestruck by both the banded and non-banded form :)
 
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