Massive Snake Terrorizing Queensland Escapes Wrath of Fiercely Protective Cloncurry Mother

Maybe the Daily Mail exaggerated a touch?
"A giant brown snake menacing a
mother and her child."
Image by Dall-E and David Arandle.

Australia has an international reputation for being the home of multiple things that will kill you on the land or in the oceans (and potentially hiding under toilet seats). What isn't mentioned is that most of these things really can't be arsed (sorry for the bit of vulgarity but we're talking Aussie wildlife here) attacking you unless you accidentally surprise them or deliberately attack them first.

So when a viral TikTok showing a Queensland, Cloncurry Mother shepherding her toddler child and pet dog back indoors, while holding a baby, because she spotted a 'massive' brown snake quietly taking advantage of the warmth from her driveway. started doing the rounds, I was like, that's pretty much an average day in an Australian country town.

However that didn't stop the Daily Mail from talking up the danger with their headline:

Watch the incredible moment eagle-eyed Aussie mum with a baby in her arms saves her young son from a massive snake: 'Lucky mum saw it'

The bylines for the article equally talked up the danger even saying within the article itself, "An eagle-eyed  mum has saved her son from a potential snake attack after she spotted it slithering towards her young child."

Watching the actual video reveals the snake doing no such thing. From what I can tell it was remaining stationary until it felt it could move away safely.

It's largely known that more snake bites occur from people trying to kill wayward snakes that have inadvertently strayed into suburbia. There's every chance the snake could have been in more danger than the child had the mother taken a more offensive strategy instead of calmly herding her child and pet back in the house.

As someone who lives in a relatively rural township near bushland with confirmed multiple snake sightings annually it's pretty rare for them to go on the attack.

In fact the only wildlife attack I've heard of in my area in 22 years was by a rogue koala, which you can read about in my article Man Eating Koalas Right Where I Live! That title is so not click bait... much... well it did bite a human at least!

I've actually come across a few snakes sunning themselves on tarmac bike tracks in our local park/bushland. For the most part, if they see you coming, they're out of there before you even get close. If they don't, just like the mother in this video, if you don't make any sudden moves toward them, and back away and wait, they'll usually decide it's safe for them to get out of the way.

With that said, I nearly ran over one at speed on a bicycle. I just didn't see it. Instead of attacking me, the snake's first instinct was to move out the way as fast as possible. I only saw it because it literally leaped out of the way, back into bushland.

I guess the point of all this is... maybe the Daily Mail was on a slow news day so talking this story up was all they had for clicks. As much as we like to say Australia is home to many things that can and will kill you... most of them are too laid back to be bothered. Except maybe crocodiles looking for a meal.

Just don't be getting all up in their faces... they'll still kill you. Stay calm and back away is the safest strategy.