Beware Of The Wildlife

Flicking through the local paper the other day, my eye was caught by a photo that seemed to jump off the page at me. It was of a huge, fat olive python curled up on someone’s patio. The headline accompanying it read, ‘Beware Of The Wildlife’. In the city, the headline grabbing stories warn you to beware of murderers, rapists or muggers; in the outback you need to beware of giant snakes that that can fell you with one bite, their venom killing you within hours. Apparently, with the weather warming up, now is the time that the snakes start to emerge from their winter hibernation hideouts so residents need to take extra care. For me, this has meant shaking out shoes, shirts, skirts, gingerly lifting up the lid of the toilet in case one is laying in wait in the bowl ready to pounce (hey, if my little goanna can slither up into the sink and through the drain in the floor, a snake can somehow get into the toilet, I’m sure of it), stomping loudly around the garden so if there’s one hiding in the bushes or amongst the leaves so it knows to stay away. I’m sure they didn’t mean that you need to take quite that much care but I’m not taking any chances. I am determined to leave Australia without having experienced a dangerous encounter with a venomous snake.


Snakes weren’t the only wildlife the journalist was warning us to be wary of but it wasn’t a spider, crocodile, shark or jellyfish either. Apparently we need to keep alert for swooping magpies. Yes, alongside venomous snakes, swooping magpies are dangerous and volatile Pilbara residents that need to be kept at bay. If you unknowingly get too close to one of their nests, they will swoop on you from behind and above, often catching you completely unawares. They won’t always just fly around you, trying to scare you off though – sometimes they will actually attack you, pecking at your extremities and drawing blood. I read of one attack last year that left a six year old girl blind in one eye after a magpie pecked it with its long, sharp beak. I am scared of a lot of wildlife in Australia but I really thought the birds were harmless at least. It just goes to show that you’re not safe from anything out here. Trust nothing and always be on your guard. I feel like I should be in some action movie – one woman against every bird and beast in Karratha. Just another ordinary day in the Pilbara.