Aussie boy's incredibly close call with snake while fishing: 'Look at the size of that!'
Footage of the moment a young fisherman narrowly dodged a deadly threat was caught on camera.
Footage of a boy reeling in a fish on the banks of a river started harmless enough until the person behind the camera noticed something deadly moving centimetres away from the young Aussie's thong-clad feet.
The incident occurred in Mudgee wetlands in NSW close to a children's playground and barbecue area recently when the adult instructed the young fisherman to "walk back with him" as the fish flapped at the end of the fishing line.
"Alright bring him up, walk back with him... keep going up!" the man can be heard encouraging in the footage. As the youngster moves backwards, an eastern brown snake is spotted slithering along the ground where the boy was standing moments earlier.
"Look at the size of that brown snake!" the man suddenly shouted, appearing to jump back. However the determined fisherman stood firm, seemingly eager to secure his catch.
Deadly snakes live 'metres away from people' and go undetected
Brown snakes make up the majority of the roughly 3,000 snake bites and snake-related deaths that occur in Australia every year, thanks to their potent venom. Despite brown snakes having relatively small fangs and a small average venom yield, the venom packs a punch — containing severe neurotoxins that result in progressive paralysis.
And these snakes are "common" in Australia, one snake expert told Yahoo News last week. "Brown snakes are living their entire lives metres away from people and are rarely seen," Mathew Hampton said.
They're known to get "easily agitated and will readily defend themselves", professional snake handler Chris Williams also previously told Yahoo News. It's always advised to move slowly and not to make any sudden movements.
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Snake season well and truly here as Aussies spot more in the wild
There has been an increase in snake sightings since the weather has warmed and snake season officially kicked off.
This month, one woman got quite the fright after a "decent sized" eastern brown snake popped out of the Murray River in Torrumbarry, Victoria while she was riding on a knee-board. A western brown was spotted slithering along the Spinifex North Beach in Perth last week, narrowly missing a group of beachgoers who were lounging metres away.
The extreme heat many parts of the country has experienced recently is being credited for the uptick in snake sightings, with Hampton telling Yahoo News the heat seemed to "wake the snakes up earlier" this year.
"As the planet warns and climate change happens, I think we're only going to see snake season creep a little bit earlier and earlier every year," he said.
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