Dirty Jobs Down Under: Snake-Away in Adelaide

 

I caught the episode of Dirty Jobs: Down Under where Mike was working for Snake-Away.  It is a company in Adelaide, Australia that collects poisonous snakes that slither into swimming pools, homes and mainly garages.  An Eastern Brown snake chasing mice made its way into the house of an elderly couple.  The second most venomous snake in the world landed up in the couples pantry.  The old woman sat up on the kitchen island as Mike and the Snake-Away guy lassoed the snake and bagged it.  The elderly couple didn’t seem panicked or overly concerned.  Just par for the course living in Adelaide.  If that snake bites you, you have 15 minutes to get to a hospital or have the paramedics administer antivenom.  The paramedics get caught in traffic, you die!

At one point Mike said why don’t they sell the place and move to North Dakota.  Good advice, too many snakes for my liking.

 

Eastern Brown Snake

 

 

Huliq.com

Mike Rowe has kicked off his new Discovery Channel show, Dirty Jobs: Down Under, and this week he faced deadly brown snakes.

There are a lot of snakes in Australia, so it doesn’t seem odd that there would be a job for someone to go around to people’s houses, extracting these deadly brown snakes from their homes.  And, in Adelaide, Australia, there are more venomous snakes than in any other town in the world. The most dangerous is the Eastern brown snake—the second most deadly snake in the world. To catch it, one must first be certified.

Snake-Away gets 80 calls each day during the summer to remove snakes from people’s homes. Mike Rowe “interned” with the Snake-Away professionals for this episode. Before they even got started, Ian, the manager and owner of Snake-Away, was bitten by a non-venomous snake he had taken out for Mike to hold—not a great omen to start the show with, to be sure.

The rather interesting thing about the brown snake is that, even though there are obviously a lot of them, as a species native to Australia, they are protected. So, after they are caught, they are not killed; they are simply re-released, typically in a non-residential area close to the catch site, even though, as Ian said, Australia is starting to get too many of them.

“Job security,” Rowe observed.

Dirty Jobs or Deadly Jobs?

Some Dirty Jobs are not necessarily as much “dirty” as they are “dangerous” or even “deadly,” and this week’s job would certainly qualify. Rowe is undoubtedly enthusiastic, but he is not an expert by any means in situations such as catching the second most deadly snake in the world. When one must be certified to catch these snakes, why is Mike Rowe doing it for an hour-long TV show? Snakes do not, one would assume, care about being on television, and probably do not recognize Rowe as being an entertainer. Therefore, it is unlikely that they are going to be inclined to cut him any special slack when deciding to strike. So, why risk it?

Ratings, of course; earning potential for “deadly” jobs is apparently more lucrative than for “dirty” ones. So, when Rowe makes a “rookie mistake” as he did in this episode, one that could literally cost him—or someone else—his life, well, it’s all done in the name of exciting television, assuming everyone survives.

Good luck Down Under, Mike; stay safe.