The Australian Reptile Park has recorded its millionth snake milking since the inception of its lifesaving venom program.
Since the 1950s, venom keepers have risked their lives daily to handle some of Australia’s deadliest terrestrial snakes.
The Park’s program extracts venom from five groups of Australia’s deadliest snakes including Coastal Taipans, Eastern Brown Snakes, Tiger Snakes, Common Death Adders and King Brown Snakes.
Every year there are 2,000 reported snake bites in Australia, with over 300 receiving antivenom and having their lives saved by the milking program.
Once the venom has been milked at the Australian Reptile Park, it is sent to Seqirus in Melbourne where the venom is made into antivenom and distributed throughout Australia’s healthcare system.
The Australian Reptile Park is the only facility in Australia to do this dangerous yet lifesaving work.
Operations Manager Billy Collett said he was proud of the fact the Park has run the program for 70 years.
During his remarkable 10-year career with the Australian Reptile Park, he has single-handedly milked over 50,000 venomous snakes.
His dedication and expertise were highlighted last June when he achieved the extraordinary feat of milking 150 snakes in a single day.
“The one millionth snake milking is not just a numerical milestone; it represents a million moments of teamwork, bravery, and a shared passion for wildlife,” Collett said.
“Every drop of venom extracted contributes to saving lives and expanding our knowledge about these remarkable creatures.”
Since the 1950s, the Australian Reptile Park has been the sole supplier of terrestrial snake venom for the purpose of making antivenom.
Snakes are encouraged to bite on plastic pulled to the same tension as human skin to inject their venom.
The snakes are milked on a fortnightly rotation and treated with the utmost care.
In early 2023, the Australian Reptile Park commenced construction on a new state-of-the-art venom milking facility, where visitors will be able to witness the lifesaving work first-hand.
The NSW State Government has committed $300,000 to the project with ground works well and truly underway and completion set for the end of 2024.