An extremely venomous coastal taipan named Cyclone just crushed a venom-yield world record by producing 5.2 grams of raw venom in one try. According to the folks who extracted this venom, that’s enough of the deadly substance to kill 400 people. But the question we’re asking is: What about that guy extracting the venom? Is “milking” snakes to collect extremely potent venom the most dangerous job in the world?
First things first, the world record. In a video posted to Instagram announcing the impressive 5.2-gram yield, a man from the Australian Reptile Park explains how the facility “milks” Australia’s most venomous land snakes to make anti-venom. In fact, in a way, they create these animals specifically for this purpose.
“We selectively breed our biggest venom producers, which allows us to have these individuals that produce these frightening venom yields to produce enough raw venom for the anti-venom program,” the man says. “This raw venom is now going to be freeze dried [and] made into the life-saving anti-venom.”
So, it’s all for the good of science and society . . . but this process can’t be safe, can it?
In the video, you can see the snake handler “milking” (i.e., extracting venom) from Cyclone by grabbing its head and putting its fangs into what appears to be a small glass container covered by plastic wrap that’s secured with a rubber band. Once the snake’s fangs are inside the container, they begin to drip venom, which collects in the container.
Presumably, there are medical professionals and anti-venom on standby, but handling snakes with such potent venom has got to be incredibly dangerous. And yet, the people in this video don’t seem phased.
Would you milk a snake selectively bred to produce large amounts of deadly venom? It’s a no for me.