Snake catcher's baffling discovery in Aussie woman's garden: 'Looking at her'
Caroline Crosling continues to find eastern brown snakes in her backyard – there's been nine already this year.
A woman's home continues to be visited by one of the world's most venomous snake species, and the snake catcher who responds to her rescue calls is completely stumped by the why the eastern browns keep turning up.
For the ninth time this year, Mark Pelley — commonly known as the Snake Hunter — received a phone call on Thursday from Caroline Crosling, a resident who lives in Diamond Creek in northeast Melbourne. He admits he may as well have put his shoes on before he answered her call, knowing very well why she'd phoned. He's attended more than a dozen rescues in the last two years at her property.
"She called me and basically said, 'Hi Mark, it's me Caroline'. We're on first-name basis now," Pelley told Yahoo News. Crosling explained that, yet again, another eastern brown snake was on her property.
"She doesn't even have to tell me her address anymore," he said, travelling to her home and finding a "brown snake looking at her from the back door".
Eastern brown snakes are the most common cause of fatal snake bites in the country. Their small volume of venom packs a punch with it's intense potency, however, bites from this species are relatively rare.
Snake catcher 'racking his brain' for eastern brown visits
Despite trying to figure out why so many eastern brown snakes are visiting Crosling's home, Pelley is no further forward with the answer.
"I've been racking my brain about this question for the longest time. I've even stood there and I've gone through the property to try and figure it out, but I can't figure out why they like her so much," he said, before joking, "She's a very lovely lady, so that could be it".
Due to her frequent visitors, Crosling has built a sheltered pen for her cats and has been forced to limit the time her dog spends outdoors in fear of what would happen if her pets and any reptiles interact.
Despite the unusual happenings, the snake catcher praised Crosling for her "patience" and for being the "sweetest lady" towards the snakes.
"When it comes to snakes a lot of people just panic, and they do silly things, but she does the right thing," he said. "She knows to watch it from a safe distance. She knows to make sure she doesn't engage with it. She keeps all animals away, and she just gives me a call and waits for me to attend."
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