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If you find yourself in an environment renowned for its hazardous plant and animal life, it’s advisable to adhere to the ‘don’t know, don’t touch’ principle.
However, an Australian woman disregarded this advice and picked up an animal on the beach, thinking it was ‘cute’.
While on vacation in New Caledonia with her partner, Suzanne Parish spotted the animal and chose to pick it up for a photograph.
The creature she encountered was a small striped snake, and she went as far as posing with it, even giving it a kiss.
As a general rule, it is unwise to pick up wild animals, let alone pose for pictures and kiss them.
However, in this instance, Suzanne narrowly avoided a tragedy, as it turned out that the snake was a highly venomous species, and its bite could have been fatal.
The snake turned out to be a sea krait, a species with venom that can be ten times as potent as that of a rattlesnake.
Fortunately, bites from sea kraits are rare, partly due to their limited interactions with humans, given their aquatic habitat.
However, picking up and kissing a sea krait is definitely not the best idea.
Belinda Donovan, a veterinary nurse at Australia Seabird and Turtle Rescue, expressed horror at the pictures, stating, “[She] was playing with death. The sea krait she picked up is known to be ten times more toxic than that of a rattlesnake… They’re fatal.”
She added that, like many snakes, sea kraits generally aren’t aggressive and will only bite if they feel threatened.
Handling them is absolutely something that could make the reptiles feel threatened, potentially provoking a bite.
Suzanne posted on Facebook, cautioning other travelers not to repeat the same mistake she made.
She mentioned, “I joined the [Facebook] group a while ago for funny posts and realized I had something relatable to share.”
Sea kraits are highly venomous. Credit: Auscape/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
The venom of sea kraits has the potential to induce convulsions, paralysis, and cardiac failure.
Individuals have succumbed to snake bites in the past, with one instance involving a 23-year-old man who died after being bitten while handling a portion of a fishing net.
Handling sea kraits can be fatal for the snakes as well, given their small and delicate nature, making them susceptible to spine breakage during interactions.
An analogous incident occurred when a man discovered a Portuguese Man O’War washed up on the beach.
The video depicts him picking up the highly venomous animal, identified as a siphonophore rather than a jellyfish, and licking its top.
Fortunately, the part of the animal he licked does not contain the stinging cells, which can otherwise lead to excruciating pain and even death.
