Highly venomous snake has shoppers heading for store’s exit, Australia video shows

A trendy store billed as a curator “of fine things” in Australia saw its customers heading for the doors when someone discovered a highly venomous snake among the racks.

It happened at Rust in Moffat Beach, and video shared Sept. 24 by Sunshine Coast Snake Catchers 24/7 shows the large snake slithering around a display of shoes.

The reptile was identified as an eastern brown snake, which have a bite that can be fatal, experts say.

“Once the unwanted guest was spotted the store was put on lock down whilst the store owner and customers waited outside,” Sunshine Coast wrote in a Facebook post.

The snake had gone into hiding when a snake catcher arrived, forcing the trapper to rummage under clothing racks and around baskets with a long metal hook.

“The brown snake is going to be cornered, so he’s not going to like it. So he’s probably going to shoot out of here,” the trapper says in the video.

And that’s exactly what it did, too. Video shows the snake charging directly at the trapper, who quickly stepped back. The snake then made a sharp turn, allowing the trapper to catch it by the tail.

The snake is seen making several attempts to bite the man’s hand but fails to make contact before being subdued in a bag.

It’s unclear how the snake got inside the store, but eastern brown snakes are a worst-case scenario in crowded conditions, experts say.

Their bite is painless and “often difficult to detect,” but the potent venom results “in progressive paralysis and uncontrollable bleeding,” the Australian Museum reports. The snakes are also notorious for putting on “a fierce display and striking with little hesitation” when cornered, the museum says.

The video, which has been viewed more 505,000 times on Facebook, concludes with the snake being released at a wilderness location. Among the more than 350 comments are people who noted the incident could have ended badly.

“Lucky he wasn’t hiding when someone went to try on some clothes or shoes,” Amy El-Ly wrote.

Moffat Beach is about a 60-mile drive north of Brisbane.

This story was originally published September 26, 2024 at 11:57 AM with the headline "Highly venomous snake has shoppers heading for store’s exit, Australia video shows."