# In Australia, is it illegal to kill a poisonous snake? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 27, 2013, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-australia-is-it-illegal-to-kill-a-poisonous-snake/659455 "2013-05-27T10:18:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2013, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-australia-is-it-illegal-to-kill-a-poisonous-snake/659455/21 "2013-05-27T17:11:08Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > In what possible sense is what you are describing “defence”? The snake is going about its business, you leave to go to a safe location, grab a weapon, return to the snake and kill it. That isn’t defence by even the most tortured defintion. No, a snake is not going about its business in a carport. There are not law courts or stock exchanges in carports. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2013, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-australia-is-it-illegal-to-kill-a-poisonous-snake/659455/22 "2013-05-27T17:35:48Z")
> [@Dioptre](#): > > The “has attacked” bit of the law points to the one good reason for going out and killing a snake. If you have been bitten, it’s important to ID the snake so they can provide the right anti-venom. Sometimes the best way to do that is to bring the snake with you to the hospital.(snip) I was involved with a construction project in Indonesia and spent several months there. People told me that if I were bitten by a snake it was important to bring it to the emergency room for just that reason. In the plane on the way home I told this to the guy sitting next to me and he just about went nuts. He was an emergency room physician, and was tired of people showing up with half a dozen bites, the first from the initial strike, and the rest from attempts to kill the snake for identification purposes. He was even more tired of people showing up with half a dozen snake bites and a not-quite dead snake in a brown paper bag, which ended up escaping far too often. The snake, not the bag. He said, “If you’re bitten by a venomous snake, go to the hospital, period. We don’t need or want the snake.” ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2013, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-australia-is-it-illegal-to-kill-a-poisonous-snake/659455/23 "2013-05-28T04:18:45Z")
> [@si\_blakely](#): > > Oh, and the author was a fair dinkum Aussie, so I don’t doubt that the whips really are (or were) a thing. You have much to learn about fair dinkum Aussies, grasshopper 😉 > [@MrDibble](#): > > It wasn’t **Blake** that made the assertion. He just asked for the cite. Oops. Sorry. I blame **stui**! ---
**Author:** ![araminty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5e925/32.png) [@araminty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/araminty)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2013, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-australia-is-it-illegal-to-kill-a-poisonous-snake/659455/24 "2013-05-28T04:35:27Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > Why are dangerous snakes protected by law? Wow. I’m gobsmacked by this attitude. They’re protected by the law because animals are inherently worth protecting, whether or not they have the ability to harm humans. ---
**Author:** ![sisu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@sisu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sisu)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2013, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-australia-is-it-illegal-to-kill-a-poisonous-snake/659455/25 "2013-05-28T04:37:40Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > So you guys never get the local equivalent of rattlesnakes holing up in your barns or houses, or slithering into your sleeping bags, or poking at you from under rocks while you’re hiking? Or cottonmouths giving you a little surprise while swimming? > > I’m shocked to learn that Texas appears to be far more dangerous than Australia in terms of snakes, then. Not that that’s all that dangerous in the first place, but still, in these parts it’s pretty well acknowledged: rattlesnake = get your shotgun. A brown snake will be territorial but if you make enough noise snakes normally scarper off into the bush. I have seen a lot of snakes over the years and even had 3 in the last 5 in my suburban back yard. Seen a few swimming on the lakes when there were a lot of bush fires around, learn to keep away from them but as has been said snakes stay away if they can. ---
**Author:** ![sisu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@sisu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sisu)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2013, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-australia-is-it-illegal-to-kill-a-poisonous-snake/659455/26 "2013-05-28T04:46:25Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > Just want to say the “brown snake” and the “carpet python” sound vaguely like some kind of code words for deviant sexual practices. only if you use ya one eyed trouser snake mate! ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2013, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-australia-is-it-illegal-to-kill-a-poisonous-snake/659455/27 "2013-05-28T05:25:56Z")
> [@araminty](#): > > Wow. I’m gobsmacked by this attitude. They’re protected by the law because animals are inherently worth protecting, whether or not they have the ability to harm humans. I wrote 2 sentences in that paragraph. You got gobsmacked after the first one. Try reading the second one: “I can understand it in a nature preserve, but why does the law apply to the company’s parking lot in a city?” Us Yankees also have laws protecting wild (and dangerous) animals. But the general idea is to protect the wild animals _in the wild_. When a Texas rancher sees a rattlesnake alongside his house, he’s gonna grab his shotgun. Like a real man. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2013, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-australia-is-it-illegal-to-kill-a-poisonous-snake/659455/28 "2013-05-28T06:19:42Z")
[http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/laws/esa/text.htm#section9](http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/laws/esa/text.htm#section9) > [@](#): > > it is unlawful for any person subject to the jurisdiction of the United States to…take any such species within the United States or the territorial sea of the United States So if you’re within the United States, you aren’t allowed to “take” (kill, capture, or wound) an endangered or protected animal. It has nothing to do with nature preserves. There’s an exception for self-defense: > [@](#): > > Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, it shall be a defense to prosecution under this subsection if the defendant committed the offense based on a good faith belief that he was acting to protect himself or herself, a member of his or her family, or any other individual, from bodily harm from any endangered or threatened species. But I don’t think parking lots or houses are people. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2013, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-australia-is-it-illegal-to-kill-a-poisonous-snake/659455/29 "2013-05-28T07:16:19Z")
That’s hardly a blanket protection for every pest animal that comes down the pike. Per Wikipedia, the number of venomous snakes so protected in the U.S. amounts to exactly [one](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crotalus_willardi_obscurus). ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2013, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-australia-is-it-illegal-to-kill-a-poisonous-snake/659455/30 "2013-05-28T07:58:29Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > You have much to learn about fair dinkum Aussies, grasshopper 😉 I learned all I need to know about fair dinkum Aussies from the Chappell brothers in February 1981 😃 I’ve learned to let it slide (but never forget) … ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2013, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-australia-is-it-illegal-to-kill-a-poisonous-snake/659455/31 "2013-05-28T08:55:54Z")
> [@si\_blakely](#): > > I learned all I need to know about fair dinkum Aussies from the Chappell brothers in February 1981 😃 > > I’ve learned to let it slide (but never forget) … Don’t mention the war… ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2013, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-australia-is-it-illegal-to-kill-a-poisonous-snake/659455/32 "2013-05-28T10:21:02Z")
> [@stui\_magpie](#): > > You give me a frigging cite for your statement that it’s more likely to be a carpet python. I never made such a claim. And since you have admitted that you have no evidence for your claim, I think we can discount it. ---
**Author:** ![stui\_magpie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stui_magpie/32/11010_2.png) [@stui\_magpie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stui_magpie)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2013, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-australia-is-it-illegal-to-kill-a-poisonous-snake/659455/33 "2013-05-28T10:56:13Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > I never made such a claim. > > And since you have admitted that you have no evidence for your claim, I think we can discount it. Beg your pardon, it was Dioptre who made the statement. I stand by what I said, you can discount it if you choose but the most common snakes to end up in a suburban yard are Brown and Black snakes. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2013, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-australia-is-it-illegal-to-kill-a-poisonous-snake/659455/34 "2013-05-28T10:57:47Z")
Data point: It’s illegal to kill venomous snakes in Norway as well. It’s a law often broken though. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2013, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-australia-is-it-illegal-to-kill-a-poisonous-snake/659455/35 "2013-05-28T11:09:13Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > Just want to say the “brown snake” and the “carpet python” sound vaguely like some kind of code words for deviant sexual practices. Crikey, they’re on to us! 😛 > [@](#): > > So you guys never get the local equivalent of rattlesnakes holing up in your barns or houses My Nan had a black snake move into her back porch for a month or so, two summers running. She used the front door until it moved out again. If you encounter a venomous snake in an area where people may be at risk, you can call an animal control officer and they’ll come out and relocate it. I don’t know how long they’d take though as it’s never come up. I did call them once for a goat, but we’d already located the owners when they showed up, an hour or two later. ---
**Author:** ![stui\_magpie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stui_magpie/32/11010_2.png) [@stui\_magpie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stui_magpie)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2013, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-australia-is-it-illegal-to-kill-a-poisonous-snake/659455/36 "2013-05-28T11:23:35Z")
I did have one fun experience when I was about 12. I was watching TV and Dad was sitting on the toilet reading the newspaper doing his business when a 3 foot brown snake slithered over his bare feet and into the shower. Hot day, he’d been out bush driving, snake probably got caught up under the car and went for a cool spot. The yelling was something spectacular. Mind you, if you’r e going to have a brown snake slither over your bare feet, the best place to be is sitting on the toilet.😃 This was the late 70’s, we were in a country town and there wasn’t an option to ring someone to come remove it. Dad called me into the bathroom, got a hunk of pine from the woodbox and told me to open the shower door and he’d whack the snake. I suggested getting the shotgun, but he said mum would kill him for blowing apart the shower. So long story short, the snake copped a few blows to the head with a piece of firewood and was lobbed out the back yard for the crows. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2013, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-australia-is-it-illegal-to-kill-a-poisonous-snake/659455/37 "2013-05-28T11:29:14Z")
> [@Eliahna](#): > > My Nan had a black snake move into her back porch for a month or so, two summers running. She used the front door until it moved out again.. Now it’s my turn to be gobsmacked.\* Gee … if you’re willing to live with a snake in your house, why not be a proper host, and invite it into your kitchen and living room, too? Or,if you are such a good host that you don’t want to harm the snake, and in fact are willing to share your home with it, why not be a good host and invite some poor homeless guy to share your home, too?(After the snake moves out, I suppose 🙂 ) I have encountered rattlesnakes while hiking in the Rocky Mountains, and of course I leave them alone. But damn…if one ever comes visiting me inside my own house, I’d commit first-degree murder, and have no guilt feelings about it. My only concern would be the practical aspect–can I safely kill it myself, or should I call an expert. \*(see **araminty** ’s post above) ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2013, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-australia-is-it-illegal-to-kill-a-poisonous-snake/659455/38 "2013-05-28T11:31:49Z")
> [@araminty](#): > > Wow. I’m gobsmacked by this attitude. They’re protected by the law because animals are inherently worth protecting, whether or not they have the ability to harm humans. Animals are, or species? My understanding of the discussion is that it’s ok to kill non-native, invasive animals–just not native ones. That’s very different from the idea that all animals are inherently worth protecting as individual lives. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2013, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-australia-is-it-illegal-to-kill-a-poisonous-snake/659455/39 "2013-05-28T11:39:42Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > “This is Australia, there’s a 99% chance it’s venomous and going out with a shovel to cut it’s head off is illegal.” > > (this quote is taken from a totally unrelated [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=692000) If you cut it’s head off with a shovel, you get a very short, very angry snake. Don’t do that. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2013, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-australia-is-it-illegal-to-kill-a-poisonous-snake/659455/40 "2013-05-28T11:47:29Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > Now it’s my turn to be gobsmacked.\* > Gee … if you’re willing to live with a snake in your house, why not be a proper host, and invite it into your kitchen and living room, too? > Or,if you are such a good host that you don’t want to harm the snake, and in fact are willing to share your home with it, why not be a good host and invite some poor homeless guy to share your home, too?(After the snake moves out, I suppose 🙂 ) For what it’s worth, I found my nan’s attitude a little too blasé too, but it all worked out. The snake didn’t bother them, they didn’t bother the snake and everyone got on with their lives. Kept the porch nicely free of hobos too, at no extra charge. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-australia-is-it-illegal-to-kill-a-poisonous-snake/659455.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-australia-is-it-illegal-to-kill-a-poisonous-snake/659455.md?page=3)