The Australian Reptile Park has just smashed the record of the most venomous terrestrial snakes milked in one day, since the inception of the venom program.
Park staff dedicate their time to milking about 300 venomous snakes every fortnight but Operations Manager Billy Collett has just beaten the record by milking 150 snakes in one day!
With sheer determination Collett took on the daunting task of milking the five most venomous terrestrial snakes in Australia that call the Park home – the Tiger Snake, Common Death Adder, Eastern Brown Snake, King Brown (Mulga) Snake and the Coastal Taipan.
It’s estimated that Collett has milked more than 50,000 snakes during his 10-year career with the Australian Reptile Park.
Despite his previous personal record of 125 venomous snakes milked in one day, no-one before now had ever beaten Robyn Weigel’s record of 142 snakes.
Weigel was one of the Park’s original snake milkers in the 1960s and still owns and works at the Australian Reptile Park.
Collett has now set the benchmark high for the rest of the team.
“I can’t believe I’ve smashed not only my own personal record, but a historical record,” he said.
“It’s so rewarding to think that I’ve collected over 10,000 milligrams of lifesaving venom, that will be sent off to Commonwealth Serum Laboratories (CSL Seqirus) and be turned into antivenom to save lives of hundreds of Australians each year.
“Milking venomous snakes is a serious task and takes such a physical and mental toll on the body.
“The strength that some of these snakes have is unimaginable and by the end of the day my arms and hands were cramping.
“Not only is it tough on the body physically, but the adrenaline pumping through my body that entire time is intense.
“It’s an extremely dangerous activity and shouldn’t be taken lightly and I have to make sure that I’m in my prime when I do this – one slip-up can be detrimental to my safety, as well as the snake’s.”
Since its inception in the late 1950s, the Australian Reptile Park is the only facility in the world that milks Australian terrestrial snakes for the production of antivenom which is sent to Seqirus where the raw venom is transformed into lifesaving antivenom.
Every year there are an estimated 2,000 reported snake bites in Australia, with more than 300 receiving antivenom and having their lives saved by the program.
Early this year Australian Reptile Park commenced construction on a new state-of-the-art venom milking facility that visitors will be able to walk through, witness the lifesaving work first-hand or see the new Venom Show.
The NSW Government has committed $300,000 to the project with ground works well and truly underway.
Source:
Australian Reptile Park