I've never been to Australia. It's on my bucket list, along with cobra whiskey and hunting Cape Buffalo, but it hasn't happened yet. The only thing I already know about Australia is that most of the fauna and even a lot of the flora will kill you if you give it half a chance.
Case in point: A domestic flight in the Land Down Under was delayed on Tuesday due to an unticketed passenger - a snake.
The snake was found on Tuesday as passengers were boarding Virgin Australia Flight VA337 at Melbourne Airport bound for Brisbane, according to snake catcher Mark Pelley.
The snake turned out to be a harmless 60-centimeter (2-foot) green tree snake. But Pelly said he thought it could be venomous when he approached it in the darkened hold.
“It wasn’t until after I caught the snake that I realized that it wasn’t venomous. Until that point, it looked very dangerous to me,” Pelley said.
Mark Pelley is right to be relieved. As far as snakes go, the number of venomous ones in Australia considerably outnumbers the harmless ones, and then some will reportedly just swallow you whole.
Most of the world’s most venomous snakes are native to Australia.
When Pelley entered the cargo hold, the snake was half hidden behind a panel and could have disappeared deeper into the plane.
Pelley said he told an aircraft engineer and airline staff that they would have to evacuate the aircraft if the snake disappeared inside the plane.
“I said to them if I don’t get this in one shot, it’s going to sneak through the panels and you’re going to have to evacuate the plane because at that stage I did not know what kind of snake it was,” Pelley said.
Samuel L. Jackson could not be reached for comment.
This snake was not venomous, and that's fortunate. Snake venoms fall into two broad categories: Neurotoxins and hemotoxins.
Snakes like cobras and the American coral snake have neurotoxins in their venom; these are, in effect, nerve agents, shutting down the transmission of neural impulses, leading to paralysis. Even autonomic functions can be affected, leading to cardiovascular failure and death.
Other snakes, like American rattlesnakes and other pit vipers (copperheats, water moccasins) have hemotoxic venoms that destroy tissue and inhibit blood clotting.
The only real treatment for either lies in getting the patient the appropriate antivenin treatment, and fast. That means that the snake has to be identified, as the wrong antivenin may be as bad as no antivenin at all.
Fortunately, the snake on this plane was not dangerous and seemed to have just been looking for a lift to Brisbane.
See Also: TSA to Passenger: Are Your Pants Full of Snakes or Are You Just Happy to See Us?
TSA to Passenger: Is That a Turtle in Your Pants or Are You Just Happy to See Us?
Also, the snake is OK. The serpent is native to Brisbane, which is where the plane had just arrived from, and so probably slithered on board there. Since it's a protected species and this individual may have been exposed to environmental factors outside of its normal range, it will be placed in the care of a registered reptile keeper, there to enjoy a life of legless leisure.
Just another day in the Land Down Under, I guess.
This seems appropriate.
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