• An 11-year-old Melbourne girl unknowingly played with one of the world’s deadliest snakes.
• Snake experts caution against handling the reptile in a viral video.
• Stewy the Snake Catcher is using the incident as a PSA on the dangers of handling animals.

Viral Video: Unknowingly playing with one of the world’s deadliest snakes, an 11-year-old Melbourne girl is lucky to be alive. Snake experts caution against handling the reptile in a viral video of the girl’s possibly tragic play date.

Stewart Gatt, known as Stewy the Snake Catcher, posted the video on his Facebook page with a PSA writing, “The girl in the video is extremely lucky that she wasn’t bitten by the snake.”

The girl’s grandmother gave the snake rescuer the footage since she didn’t know what it was.

According to the New York Post, the youngster was walking in Newport, a Melbourne suburb, when she spotted an eastern brown snake, a highly venomous species that kills most Australians. She picked it up thinking it was a harmless North American garter snake. She holds the poisonous snake like a pet in the video. She cries, “Here’s the garter snake!”

Watch the viral video of the girl holding a deadly snake:

Eastern browns are “nervous” and have enough venom to kill 58 people, so she was lucky they didn’t bite.

“This little girl could have actually died from a bite from this snake,” wrote Stewy, who is using the incident as a cautionary tale on the dangers of handling animals sans the proper knowledge. “Please, please, please remind your children and grandchildren that you shouldn’t interfere and interact with any wildlife unless you are trained to do so,” he implored. “We need to teach our kids right from wrong, and handling any wildlife is dangerous and should be left to the professionals.”

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