Street on snake alert

By Paul Dunlop
TWO snakes spotted in one street have sent shivers up the spines of residents.
The warm weather recently has prompted several sightings of the venomous reptiles.
People living in Nar Nar Goon’s Mulcare Street are on extra alert after families living within a few houses of each other both found snakes in their yards.
Nar Nar Goon mum Belinda Quarrell said it was the second time she had seen a snake near her home this year.
“My husband John was out mowing the lawns and he saw it, probably a tiger snake,” Mrs Quarrell said.
“Our son Liam was playing out in the front yard so it’s pretty scary.”
The latest sightings come after a 13yearold boy was bitten by a brown snake in the schoolyard at Pakenham’s Chairo Christian College a fortnight ago.
As reported in last week’s Gazette, ambulance officer Neryllee Wearne who treated the schoolboy had suffered her own ordeal when she was bitten at Garfield last year.
Mrs Quarrell said Mulcare Street ran alongside the railway line and appeared to be quite prone to snakes.
“They’re definitely out there,” she said. “We saw the snake in our yard last Tuesday and a neighbour saw one the previous Saturday.
“Liam is only four so he thinks it’s a bit funny but I find it a bit frightening. He doesn’t realise how serious it is.”
The Metropolitan Ambulance Service has warned people to beware of snakes as this was the time of year that snakes were becoming more active.
Ms Wearne said anyone bitten by a snake should be kept still and calm while an ambulance was called.
She warned against people attempting “old school” treatments.
“People should not wash the bite area, apply a tourniquet or suck the venom out,” she said.