Tuesday, February
uary 10, 2009
NEWS
DARTMOOR
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– Page 12
TV WATCH INSIDE TOMORROW – YOUR SEVEN DAY TELEVISION GUIDE LIFTOUT
Snake alert
BY SANDRA MORELLO
Email: sandra@tbw.com.au
A MOUNT Gambier snake
catcher has warned residents to
be vigilant following two snakes
being discovered in houses.
David Miles has also warned
people to be careful around the
crater lakes area, which can
be a haven for the slippery
reptiles.
“The lakes area is snake
country, people should be aware
that they are around,” Mr Miles
said.
“There was a copperhead
near the lakes area on Boxing
Day.”
While he has had only six
call-outs this summer, he said
two of these were to snakes
in houses at Nangwarry and
Donovans.
“Snakes come inside houses
on really hot days to find shade
and cool conditions,” Mr Miles
said.
He said snakes had also
been reported in the centre of
town, but declined to reveal the
locations in a bid not to panic
people.
“They do come into town.
They crawl down drains,
along fences and basically go
anywhere they want to go,” Mr
Miles said.
He said he had caught a
number of brown snakes in
the district this summer, which
were the second deadliest snake
in the world.
“They are more toxic than the
Indian cobra,” Mr Miles said.
He said snakes were more
likely to come inside houses
during very hot weather to find
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shady cool conditions.
However, Mr Miles warned
snakes would begin to move
more as the temperature
cooled.
“They will become more
active and start hunting for
food,” he said.
He said the number of snake
sightings reported varied each
year.
“You will only see about 1pc of
the snakes that you walk past,”
said Mr Miles, who has never
been bitten despite catching
more than 150 highly poisonous
snakes in the district.
He encouraged people to
carry four-inch bandages and
a mobile when walking around
the crater lakes.
“If people get bitten, they
should apply the proper first
aid. You should always get help
to go to you than you go to get
help,” Mr Miles said.
He stressed it was important
people remained calm during
these situations.
Meanwhile, Mr Miles - who
is also a member of the Friends
of Animals South East - said
the hot weather had resulted
in a number of possums being
brought in for care because of
heat-related stress.
“Koalas, possums and other
native animals can suffer heat
stress,” he said.
“If you see an animal in heat
stress people should try to put
them in the shade and give
them cool water.”
But he warned people about
approaching koalas which often
could be aggressive.
Mr Miles can be contacted on
0409 280 837 and Friends of
Native Animals South East can
be reached on 0427 396 919.
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BW491032
SE residents
rally to fire
victims’ aid
BY SANDRA MORELLO
Email: sandra@tbw.com.au
THE South East community is rallying
behind the devastated bushfire zones of
Victoria, as the region sends volunteer
firefighters into the epicentre of the
disaster and Mount Gambier welfare
agencies are inundated with calls from
people wanting to help.
St John Ambulance personnel from the
South East are also on standby to move
into the disaster areas, while welfare
agencies such as St Vincent de Paul in
Mount Gambier are collecting blankets,
clothes and food for Victorians who have
been caught up in the deadly inferno.
A number of Mount Gambier transport
companies have already offered to trans-
port donated goods into the fire zones.
The farming community, who remem-
ber the generosity of Victorians following
the horrific Ash Wednesday fires in the
South East, is also expected to send semi-
trailer loads of hay into the blackened
areas.
Port MacDonnell firefighter Dennis
Merrett was among the Port MacDonnell
volunteers who flew into the Gippsland
fire zone on Sunday night.
After being briefed by fire officials
yesterday morning, Mr Merrett spoke
briefly to The Border Watch as he headed
into the centre of the fire zone in a strike
truck.
“I don’t know where I am really going,”
said Mr Merrett, as fire sirens sounded
in the background.
“We are just going towards a hill and
everything is black, just black.
“Sorry, but I have got to go now.”
Port MacDonnell and District CFS
group officer Garry Talbot said yesterday
the Mount Gambier district would be
sending more volunteers into the fire
zones “for a while yet”.
“It will be dirty, horrible and depress-
ing work for these volunteers. They are
doing a great thing for Victorians,” Mr
Talbot said.
pMount Gambier’s David Miles holds a deadly tiger snake, which was
caught at Kalangadoo. Picture: SANDRA MORELLO. Continued page 4
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