A VOLUNTEER at the Swan Hill Comfort Centre got the fright of her life recently when she found a red-bellied black snake slithering through the building in search of a warm place to sleep.
Assistant Helen Tuntar was moving between rooms in the building when she caught sight of movement at the edge of her vision.
“I was going out into the ladies and I looked down and something was coming and that is all I remember because I was frozen,” Helen said.
“I am scared of snakes, I can’t even watch them on the television — I have a phobia.”
Centre chairperson Beryl Lowe said in her 18 years at the centre she had never seen a snake there — but that Helen had certainly got a fright.
“She screamed blue murder,” Beryl said.
“But it is better that she found it than one of the customers.”
It is estimated the snake was 60cm long and seemed to be well-fed.
After the initial moments of panic, the snake moved to the edge of the room giving volunteers a chance to dial assistance to catch the snake.
Despite requesting assistance locally, they were redirected to Melbourne, before contacting a local snake handler directly.
The handler came to the centre and removed the snake releasing it in its normal habitat near the Murray River.
“At this time of year we shouldn’t be seeing snakes around,” Helen said.
“Not in town — in the CBD,” Beryl said.
She added that it was thought the snake may have come from the Pioneer Animal Nursery, where they had heard some lambs had recently been bitten, although it could not be certain the two incidents were linked.
A representative at the Pioneer Animal Nursery confirmed that two lambs had been bitten by a snake a couple of months ago during the warmer weather.
They said it was unknown what type of snake it had been.
With the excitement over for now, life has returned to normal at the Comfort Centre and Beryl encouraged people to drop in and use the facilities.
“Hopefully we won’t have those types of visitors to greet everybody,” she said.
