A university in the top end is delivering the Northern Territory's first accredited TAFE course in catching snakes. From pythons to highly venomous king browns, the course prepares students for every kind of slithery encounter. But not everyone is convinced the art of snake wrangling needs to be included in higher education.
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00:00In this cold-blooded classroom, staying calm is the number one rule.
00:07They think if there's a snake, you've got to run away from it.
00:10It's going to chase you.
00:11It's going to try and eat you.
00:12It's going to try and bite you.
00:13In reality, a snake has absolutely no interest in you at all.
00:16Former park ranger Johnny McGannon is getting his students used to sharing space with some
00:21of the country's most venomous reptiles.
00:23I guess it used to be more presented as a bit of a cowboy thing to do.
00:27You'd see people like Steve Irwin grabbing them by the tail and having a good crack.
00:32And that's all very fun and really good, but you don't need to behave like that around
00:35snakes.
00:36Since the start of the year, about 30 students have completed this certified TAFE course
00:40in Catherine.
00:41You get people who look after military bases, you get nurses, you get all sorts of different
00:47people.
00:48You get people from zoos.
00:49It's the first of its kind in the NT, and the second in the country.
00:53We're under specific standards to teach specific things that are correct.
00:57But not everyone agrees with this new approach.
01:00I think TAFE should have no, you know, they shouldn't be in it.
01:04There's no reason to be in it.
01:05I mean, if you look at me, I've been catching snakes since I'm 18, so I've built up a lot
01:09of knowledge over that time.
01:11Rex Neindorf runs the Alice Springs Reptile Centre and trains snake catchers across the NT.
01:17I catch and release snakes on a daily basis, and most of the snakes we catch here in Alice
01:21Springs are highly venomous.
01:22There are a lot of snake trainers around who aren't accredited, and of course they know
01:27what they're talking about.
01:28The course we deliver through CDU is not in any way any competition to those people.
01:34We're sort of designed it to target people in remote areas where there might not be a
01:40snake trainer.
01:41Johnny says whatever their differences, snake educators share a common goal.
01:45I figure if we can teach people how to behave around snakes safely, that kind of awareness
01:50sort of protects both people and snakes.
01:53A gentle approach to creatures often misunderstood.