TASMANIA MERCURY (Hobart, Australia) 07 January 09 Snake sighting sparks alarm (Bruce Mounster)

Tranmere resident Shane Mundy went within two steps of treading on a large tiger snake yesterday.

Mr Mundy, a butcher, said the snake was sunning itself on the cement footpath next to Tranmere Rd about 12.30pm.

He said he was walking with his 50kg black labrador Charlie and writing a text message on his mobile phone. He only saw the snake at the last minute.

"It was a big, thick, black-looking thing with a gold-yellow underbelly, half coiled," he said.

"I jumped back, grabbed the dog and put him on the lead.

"I wish I'd been wearing my heart-rate monitor. It probably would have gone through the roof."

Mr Mundy said he had seen children riding their bikes back and forth on the same stretch of footpath just 20 minutes before his snake encounter.

He said he had seen a smaller snake in the same area about two weeks ago and yesterday felt compelled to warn the public.

Mr Mundy, who contacted the Mercury anonymously, but was later identified as West Hobart butchery operator and a guest on Andrew Denton's Enough Rope TV show, said he had eaten snake once as a teenager and they were part of his heritage.

He said his father, descended from Tasmanian Aborigine Fanny Cochrane Smith, once shot a snake at a Bagdad clay target shooting range, skinned it and put it on the barbecue.

Mr Mundy said these days he preferred to steer clear of snakes and last year elected not to walk Charlie on Tranmere hill during summer after an encounter there.
AUS Press: Snake sighting sparks alarm

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• AUS Press: Snake sighting sparks alarm - W von Papineäu, Wed Jan 7 22:37:27 2009