Vanessa Bull wears many hats, but the most unusual one is that of mountain snake catcher.
For about 20 years she’s been the woman to call if you have a snake in your bed, your water tank or your carport.
Snake catching was something she fell into when the Beaudesert Shire Council announced they were no longer sending officers to do it.
As Deputy Mayor at the time, she felt she needed to step in when she started to receive phone calls asking for help.
“A group of us qualified from around the shire and five of us from the mountain were qualified; I am the last of those five left,” Vanessa said.
Calls at 2am are nothing unusual for Vanessa who jokes that in summer she has to give up alcohol to ensure she can drive when the phone rings.
The busy period starts in September and runs until April and in the peak time Vanessa could be called out up to ten times a week.
“I deal quite often with Eastern Browns, the second most venomous snake in Australia,” she said.
“I’d rather deal with an Eastern Brown than the Rough Scale.”
“You move like the crazies. People cannot believe how fast I am with venomous snakes. The trick is to never hesitate.”
“You’ve got one chance to get them, and they are smarter than you are.”
However, she said carpet snakes are the worst bites she’s had, because it’s easy to get blasé with them.
“They are painful and all have dirty teeth from the food they eat,” she explained.
“I’ve been up ladders; I’ve been in ceilings.”
One memorable occasion was removing two enormous Eastern Brown snakes that were mating.
Vanessa has since trained Maria de Koning from the Rural Fire Brigade to help out.
“We need more snake catchers. I don’t know how much longer I can keep this going,” Vanessa said.
She asks a donation to the Lions Club wildlife group to support Wildcare in return for catching a snake.
