Associate Professor Gavin Smith is a licensed snake handler and Head of Sociology at ANU, and he is lobbying for snake removal and education in the ACT to be a public service.

With the support of Dr Marisa Paterson, ACT Labor backbencher, Gavin has launched a petition to review the current snake licensing regulations and to explore how snake catching and education work could be better resourced and made more sustainable as Canberra grows. He says this is necessary to protect people, pets and snakes, as he is one of the few people who can handle the venomous species inhabiting the region.

The petition has almost 600 signatures and many people in the community support the premise that snake catching should be a public service funded through taxation and developer offsets. The petition will close on Saturday 16 March, 2024. 

Associate Professor Smith’s snake-catching work in the community is informed by his sociological and ecological research that explores the human—wildlife—environment nexus. To learn more about this, visit the Canberra Snake Tracking Project (an ANU study that explores the spatial & behavioural ecology of urban-adapted eastern brown snakes).

For additional information about the petition and its relevance, read The Riot ACT.