02 May 2024 , 14:08
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Influencers could land themselves in hot water after a spate of social media figures posed with Australia’s deadliest land snake.
Multiple accounts on Instagram show men clad in khaki shirts picking up or posing beside inland taipans, which carry enough venom in a single bite to kill 100 human beings. But those who escape alive may be facing another kind of sting as they could be fined more than £250,000 and hit with a two-year prison sentence.
Far North Queensland tour guide James Boettcher was the first to notice the worrying trend around 10 years ago. He thinks that many of the influencers are trying to copy the behaviour of the late Steve Irwin. Steve was famously licked on the face by an inland taipan during a stunt.
James Boettcher has noticed an increase in social media influencers posing with the dealy inland taipan (australian geographic travel)“I've noticed a trend where people have gotten mixed up in the social media game, and I think they’ve lost sight of their educational responsibilities. It’s okay if it’s someone like Steve Irwin who has a permit, there’s a certain value in that, but when it comes to people going out there and doing the same thing, it’s just take, take, take” the FNQ Nature Tours founder told Yahoo News. "They just pose with the snake and rip a sentence from Wikipedia to add onto their post for educational value, and boom, they’re a wildlife educator.”
Several videos have been uploaded recently showing high-profile or emerging influencers picking up the lethal creature. In one of them, a man is seen handling the snake for more than 90 seconds. Most of the comments appear to be praising the influencer's actions - completely unaware of the legality of such acts.
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All native snakes in Australia are considered protected species and it's actually an offence to "take a snake" from the wild. This includes the act of catching them for the purposes of filming. Anyone found to have committed the offence could be fined £8,087 and face two years in prison. Should the incident happen in a national park or protected area, the fine rockets up to £242,600. If the snake is "dangerous or venomous" to humans, it attracts an additional £3,234 charge.
“Most snake bites are received by people who try to capture or kill a snake,” a DESI spokesperson said. “Attempting to catch a venomous snake is risky and can put people in danger. People who encounter a snake are advised to back away to a safe distance. Snakes present little or no danger to people when left alone.”