Ross Bennett's passionate words yesterday belied the tenderness with which he handled his favourite red-bellied black snake.
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The former ranger with Victorian National Parks Service and the ACT Parks and Conservation Service, and founder of the Australian Reptile Centre at Gold Creek Village, was mounting a vehement defence of all animals, especially those in the ACT perceived to be life-threatening.
![Defender of all nature's creatures Defender of all nature's creatures](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/cbc5e711-6544-4ef3-88c3-d65857c1ca88.jpg/r0_0_729_486_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
''The red-bellied black snake is venomous, but a very laid-back and very approachable snake, and in captivity they can actually be very, very tame,'' he said, as the - admittedly placid - specimen wound its way gently around his wrists.
He was at the Namadgi Visitors Centre yesterday for the launch of his book, Reptiles and Frogs of the Australian Capital Territory, published by the National Parks Association of the ACT.
This is an updated version of the book Mr Bennett wrote back in 1997 as a basic identification guide for Canberrans, but also as a way to encourage people to embrace local wildlife.
''I tried all the way through it to try and get across just how absolutely extraordinary these things are,'' he said.
''Every individual is a truly extraordinary creature going through an extraordinary sequence of events called life, and we should never, ever forget that they're not mindless, man-eating, person-chasing beings ... They're out there to perform a function, in terms of a much bigger picture called the cycle of life, and we need to respect that.''
He said he was constantly shocked by the misinformation people were exposed regarding snakes and other wildlife.
''The point is, there is so much rubbish out there that in this day and age is still positively frightening,'' he said.
''If we forget the domestic stock and pet circumstances, there are only three animals in Australia that will make an unprovoked attack on a person.''
The first two, he said, were sharks and crocodiles.
''Hey, sharks eat things in the water - there's nothing new or different about that. If you don't want to be eaten by a shark, don't go in the water ... Saltwater crocs are the second, and it's essentially the same.''
And the third?
''The third one is by far the most dangerous - that's other people. Let's not kid ourselves here, let's grow up and get real. We need to forget all the rubbish,'' he said, as he gently placed the snake - which he has looked after since rescuing it as a pencil-sized baby - into a red cloth bag.
- Reptiles and Frogs of the Australian Capital Territory is available at local bookshops, or on the web at www.npaact.org.au