Watch the brave snake catcher who catches snakes with his bare hands
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A snake catcher, from Australia, rescues some of the world’s deadliest snakes with his bare hands.
Barry Goldsmith has been rescuing snakes for 40 years. Barry and his wife Karen run a rescue service called Snake Catcher Victoria, based on the Mornington Peninsula in southern Australia.
Snake Catcher Victoria is home to tiger snakes, copperheads, eastern brown snakes and red-bellied black snakes.
Whenever a snake is spotted, Barry goes to rescue the snake to release it into the wild. And, he does it with his bare hands.
Barry told Barcroft: “In the summer I rescue and relocate about 40 snakes a month. I do get paid usually, which covers the license cost of $350 per year, petrol and assorted sundries, but if the punter has no money, or the snake needs to be rescued from a public place, I’ll often not get paid.”
“If you want to save the animal, you can’t expect money all the time. There is no such thing as a rich snake catcher unless you are unscrupulous and a mercenary and there are plenty of operators who are just that.”
“I’ve always been hands-on with the snakes and sometimes I get people on the internet and Facebook telling me that I’m a bad person for free handling and I shouldn’t be doing it.”
“But I am one of the only people I know who has never been hospitalised from a venomous snake in 40 years of working and keeping them.”
Barry and his wife love snakes and Barry caught his first snake when he was just nine years old.
He brought the snake home and kept it in a tank near his bed.
He said: “I’ve always loved all animals and snakes are very misunderstood and are often killed just for being a snake.
I suppose I’ve always stuck up for the underdog and because snakes have such a bad reputation I spend a lot of time trying to alter peoples perceptions.”
“I love to see people go from terrified haters to understanding the animal and seeing the beauty”, he added.