Getting a handle on snakes
Community members in Roebourne went through a workshop with a difference earlier this month when a snake handling course was delivered in town.
The workshop was organised by Tracey Heimberger and Sharyn Morrow and fully sponsored by Member for Mining and Pastoral Kyle McGinn.
About 10 people went through the course on Sunday, November 17, which was delivered by internationally renowned snake handler Brian Bush.
Mr McGinn said the course was to train snake handlers in Roebourne, and covered more than just information on how to catch the reptiles.
“It was about understanding them a bit better,” he said.
“A lot of the issues that arise are because people don’t know if they’re venomous or not and they don’t know how to treat a bite.”
Mr McGinn said he didn’t realise until after the course just how empowering it could be.
“Personally I’m not a huge lover of snakes, and neither were most of the people in the room,” he said.
“Brian talked about how to treat snake bites with pressure and about how snakes see everything as part of their environment which is something people need to be vigilant of, because of that we were excited to have a look by the time the snakes had come out.”
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