Drunken Snake Fondling: Not Recommended

There is a hysterically funny article in the Times of London today about the official snake catcher of the city of Darwin, Australia. Said snake catcher, 23-year-old Chris Peberdy packs a lot of memorable one-liners into his everyday speech. At least when there's a reporter about.

Like looking for a gas leak with a lighter, drinking and snake handling would appear to be a rather obviously lethal combination. Chris’s former business partner narrowly escaped death after being nailed on the chest by a taipan — the second most venomous snake in the world.

“Trying to impress a bird again,” shrugs Chris. “He had a bottle of Jim Beam in one hand and the snake around his neck.”

Antivenin, made by injecting poison into horses and extracting the resulting mix, saved his life, but not — apparently — his sanity.

“The mad bastard went off and joined the Foreign Legion after the bite,” says Chris. “He thought it’d be safer.

Read the whole thing. It really is funny.  But I really wouldn't want the job.