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00:09My name's Mike Rowe, and this is my job.
00:15I've made a mess in all 50 states. A big one.
00:18Now, I'm packing my bags for Australia, land of kangaroos...
00:22Look at me. I'm over here.
00:24...and didgeridoos.
00:27But I'll be doing more than cuddling koalas.
00:30Oh, her bum is soaking wet.
00:31I'll be getting dirty down under.
00:35I'm still trying to get my head around what I just saw.
00:40Coming up on Dirty Jobs.
00:43We're here?
00:44Yes.
00:44I attempt two risky vocations.
00:46So he does get through that glove, and I'm absolutely going to the hospital.
00:49In two major cities.
00:51On opposite ends of a really big country.
00:54I'm going to hunt down some invaders.
00:57One kills humans.
00:58That's an absolute snake right there.
01:00Oh, s**t.
01:00And the other is destroying the entire Australian continent.
01:03Maybe they see these shirts coming, and they just run through the hills.
01:06Sure, it's dangerous.
01:07Fortunately, I'm positively brimming with confidence.
01:10Steady as can be.
01:11Nothing to worry about.
01:23Australia.
01:25It's a beautiful and dusty country with many places and faces.
01:30Of course, they've got the outback, the bush, and the jungle.
01:35Holy smokes.
01:36There are plenty of dirty jobs in the land down under.
01:39But Australia has some great towns, too.
01:42And today, we're hitting the streets for some cold-blooded work.
01:47Here's the situation.
01:48We're at our little hotel this morning.
01:49It really isn't so bad.
01:51That's the lead car up there.
01:52That'll be driven by Bettina.
01:54Good morning, Bettina.
01:54We're about to do some driving in Adelaide.
01:56It's going to be very exciting, isn't it?
01:58It is.
01:58And by cold-blooded, I mean reptiles and amphibians.
02:02What do you think is more dangerous, the drive we're about to take or the snakes we're about
02:05to wrangle?
02:06Definitely the snakes.
02:08Doug, do you have any thoughts on this?
02:09I just want to go.
02:11And Dave is in the driver's side, which, of course, is conspicuously located on the wrong
02:16side of the car.
02:17Who's actually driving the third car?
02:20Amber's driving?
02:21Oh, no way.
02:22Amber, what's the holdup?
02:25I'm sure we're just making sure of what I'm saying.
02:27That's bad news.
02:28Are you kidding me?
02:29No, Amber's driving the car.
02:30Amber's behind the wheel.
02:32We agreed that Amber shouldn't be behind the wheel of a vehicle in the United States.
02:35I know.
02:36I know.
02:36Who's driving with Amber?
02:37Jones?
02:39Jones and a behind-the-scenes guy.
02:40Oh, I hope to God they're shooting that.
02:42Jones and Amber in the same car?
02:44Uh, you're coming up on another.
02:45Is it going to change red?
02:47Stop.
02:51Brakes work.
02:52Oh, my Jones ain't a great driver, either.
02:55He's not?
02:56No.
02:56But he's angry at other people's driving.
02:58Yes.
02:59We're going to go straight.
02:59How's that as a plan?
03:01How about they slow down?
03:03But he will, uh, in anger, make decisions.
03:07Yeah, similar to him.
03:08Yeah, but I'm a good driver.
03:11Adelaide is the capital of South Australia.
03:14All right, so here we are, the streets of Adelaide.
03:16We are still on the wrong side of the road.
03:20And at a glance, it looks pretty much like any old U.S. city.
03:24But one thing that makes Adelaide special is snakes, more venomous snakes than any other town on planet Earth.
03:35The most dangerous snake in Adelaide is also the most prominent.
03:39It's the eastern brown snake.
03:40And yeah, it's deadly.
03:42And yeah, it's deadly.
03:43Uh-huh.
03:43It's the second most deadliest snake in the world.
03:45To even try and catch it, you've got to be certified.
03:49You know, the babies are worse.
03:50They're like this big.
03:51Yeah.
03:52They have more concentrated venom.
03:55Today, the job's pretty straightforward.
03:57To hunt and catch these deadly reptiles, which are no longer content to live in the wild.
04:03In Adelaide, they've moved into schools, grocery stores, children's bedrooms, pretty much everywhere.
04:09Based on what you know, we're going to be dealing with two different kinds of snakes.
04:12So let's get to it.
04:13Let's make Adelaide safe and kill some poisonous snakes.
04:16All right, this is the guy's place, right?
04:18So we're at his house?
04:19Yeah, this is where he's got a lot of stuff.
04:22Snake-A-Way is the pest-controlled business of a friendly bloke called Ian Renton.
04:27At the height of summer, Ian gets 80 calls a day to remove snakes from people's homes.
04:32Ian operates out of his humble home, which he shares with dozens of slithery friends, including some infamous browns.
04:42To be clear, one bite from a brown snake can kill you, sometimes in just 14 minutes.
04:50So if you're bitten by a brown snake, your chances for survival are slim.
04:55And before we even set up our cameras, one of Ian's roommates decided to bite the hand that feeds him.
05:02Oh, what happened?
05:04This is one I was getting out for you to hold.
05:07What the heck?
05:08So where is it now?
05:09It's back in his cage.
05:10Was that a sort of poisonous one?
05:12No.
05:12Oh, that's good news.
05:14That's it.
05:15That looks like a...
05:17Yeah, it's teeth.
05:18It's got teeth on it.
05:19It's so big.
05:20So they've gone in everywhere.
05:22You guys give us a call next time.
05:23That happens.
05:25The gal on the right is Sam.
05:26She hails from New Zealand and came to snake away at Ian's request.
05:30Evidently, Ian wants to retire soon and is looking for someone to take over.
05:34I don't blame him.
05:35Ian.
05:37I'm filled with confidence.
05:39Today, Sam is impersonating a medic.
05:42Sam, have you been bitten like that before?
05:44No.
05:45No, only very small bites so far.
05:47Lucky for Ian, he was bitten by an olive python.
05:49I didn't get its name, but that's him right there, licking his chops.
05:52It has grown-up teeth, obviously.
05:55Yeah, their teeth can be up to three-eighths of an inch in length.
05:59Uh-huh.
05:59And that can have up to about 180 teeth, and that's it.
06:03So in the wild, they actually take down kangaroos and drag them through ponds and eat them.
06:08Yeah.
06:09Ian's had this snake for years, and it's never bitten him before.
06:12Hard not to see this as an omen for the day ahead.
06:16Yeah, that's a deep puncture.
06:17Occupational hazard.
06:19I would imagine.
06:19On the bright side, if he gets bitten by a brown snake, the business could be Sam's in 14 minutes.
06:26So welcome to the beginning of the segment.
06:29There's been some excitement.
06:31You're feeling okay?
06:32Yeah, I'm going to tell you.
06:33All right.
06:34All right, to make it official, your full name?
06:36Ian Rinson.
06:37And you are officially a what?
06:39Manager and owner of Snake Away Services.
06:41Snake Away is the name of the company?
06:42Yes.
06:43You're the big cheese.
06:44I'm the little cheese.
06:45Well, we're all from the same block of cheese, but there's more cheese here than there is here.
06:53Makes sense.
06:54You've lost a fair amount of blood, but we've taped you up, and you seem game to move forward.
06:58Yeah.
06:58But before we begin, of course, you're going to give me a tutorial.
07:01Yep, pretty well.
07:02Now, this is a juvenile brown snake.
07:04It is the time of year now when they're actually hatching out.
07:08These are some that we've actually caught in the last few weeks.
07:11These are actually more dangerous to deal with than the adults.
07:18The baby brown snakes.
07:19The babies are.
07:19Okay.
07:19They're not used to what their venom can do, and when they bite, they tend to really latch on
07:24and chew on and pump in copiates amounts of venom.
07:27Highly deadly.
07:28So is there sort of just a standing order in Australia to kill these things on site?
07:33No, it's illegal to kill them.
07:35All native animals are protected by law.
07:36So what do you do when you catch these?
07:39If they're protected, you don't release them again.
07:41They've got to be released back into the wild.
07:43But there is starting to get too many of these coming out.
07:47The second most venomous snake maybe on the planet, certainly in Australia, is a protected species,
07:52and even if you catch them, thereby making an area safe, you're legally required to release them.
07:58Yes.
07:59Thereby making an area unsafe.
08:01No, I get it.
08:02It's down under logic.
08:03Well, it's job security.
08:05True.
08:06These are the tools of trade.
08:08Obviously, they're used to grab snakes out from dangerous areas instead of putting your
08:14hands in there.
08:15So we're going to practice on a little one?
08:16Yeah.
08:17We're going to start with the little ones.
08:18Okay.
08:19So swatting with your hand.
08:20Yep.
08:20You'll never take your eyes off the head.
08:23You've just got to let them bite you then, basically.
08:25Yeah.
08:25If they bite you, then you can grab it.
08:27Come here.
08:28Oh, she's here.
08:30Baby.
08:32I don't even like it.
08:33I don't like it when he bites the glove.
08:35It's all right.
08:36He can't get through it.
08:37Yeah, I know.
08:37Look at him.
08:38He's biting.
08:39He's squirting.
08:39He's deadly venom.
08:41So he does get through that glove, and I'm absolutely going to the hospital.
08:44Oh, definitely.
08:46Okay.
08:46Feel comfortable with that?
08:48No, but...
08:49It's okay.
08:49Mm-hmm.
08:50It can go down.
08:53Uh...
08:54All right.
08:54So now, it's a matter of keeping him contained.
08:57Hey, hey, hey.
08:59He's biting you.
09:00So the more you move, the more aggressive he's going to get.
09:04Now you're whipping him into a frenzy, you.
09:07I'm using the hook...
09:07Uh-huh.
09:08...to keep him away from me.
09:10Let's get him over here towards Dave.
09:13All right.
09:14So...
09:14So now you just want to pin him mid-body.
09:16Right.
09:17Like so.
09:17That's a good start.
09:19No, no.
09:19That was a bad end, though.
09:20Let's go like this.
09:22And then let's go.
09:23Oh, jeez.
09:26Oh, jeez.
09:32Straight up and down.
09:33You got him there.
09:34Well done.
09:35Yeah.
09:36Now as he flicks around...
09:37Uh-huh.
09:38...have this down.
09:38Yeah, that'll do.
09:40I know.
09:42Ian says the safest way to catch an adult snake
09:44is without gloves, which seems insane.
09:47This is because with a snake this big,
09:49you need a sense of touch in order to feel its jaw.
09:52It's critical.
09:53So why did I wear gloves with the baby snake?
09:56Because the jaw of a baby snake is too small to feel.
09:59Plus, I want it to live.
10:01All right, that's a pretty good position to start.
10:03Uh-huh.
10:04You've got to get him here on the jawline.
10:06Your middle finger and thumb.
10:07Uh-huh.
10:07Your pointer finger on top.
10:14Do you feel the jawline?
10:15I do.
10:15Make sure you've got him around the jaw.
10:17I sure am trying.
10:18I really am.
10:19I want to have him around the jaw so bad.
10:21I want to...
10:22I really want to own this little son of a gun.
10:24Okay.
10:24Okay.
10:27Are you happy with that?
10:28Oh, happy's not even on the top ten list of words
10:30right now running through my head,
10:32but I am holding the second most venomous snake
10:34in the...
10:34You are.
10:35...in the place in the world
10:36where the most venomous snakes live.
10:38Top ten.
10:39Top ten.
10:40All right.
10:41All right, now you want me to put him in a bag?
10:42Yes.
10:45So now I'm going to put my index finger under him
10:47and my thumb on top of him.
10:48Yes.
10:48Like that.
10:49Yep.
10:52That's it.
10:52Well done.
10:53All right, thank you.
10:54Now that, over, down, tip it up.
10:57Well done.
10:58A snake in a bag.
11:01So, now the phone rings,
11:03we go to an appointment,
11:04and we save someone.
11:05Yep.
11:06For sure.
11:06All right.
11:09And I'll just get some dirty towels.
11:11And right on cue.
11:12Call's coming in right now.
11:13This is when all hell breaks loose.
11:16Oh, jeez.
11:18Steady as can be.
11:19Nothing to worry about.
11:20Somewhere in Adelaide,
11:22the second deadliest snake in Australia
11:23has made an unscheduled appearance.
11:26We need to find it
11:27before it strikes an innocent victim.
11:30Ian is loading up the car.
11:32There's a brown snake
11:33swimming around in someone's pool.
11:35Uh-huh.
11:35And then we've got another one
11:38that's running around the backyard
11:39of a house up here at Derno Pool.
11:41Fairly localized.
11:43We're on the roll.
11:44Everybody's going to load up
11:45their stuff over there.
11:46I'm going to ride with Ian.
11:48Ryan's going to cover it all like that.
11:50And away we go.
11:54We here?
11:55Yes.
11:56Coming up.
11:58That's an absolute snake right there.
12:00Brown snake.
12:01I'm seriously pinned back here.
12:02It's Australian.
12:03For holy crap.
12:05Oh.
12:07And later.
12:08All right, everybody.
12:09If you have a plague of frogs,
12:10who are you going to call?
12:11The Toadmaster.
12:12You going to cheer for your toad?
12:23Do this?
12:24Yep.
12:24And take that just in case.
12:26Well, this doesn't have to all be my responsibility.
12:29I want Sam involved.
12:30You want Carrie?
12:31No, no, no.
12:31The apprentice always cook.
12:33Does everything?
12:33Yeah.
12:35All right.
12:35And we'll just go to the front door
12:36and check with them.
12:39Hi.
12:39Ian from Snake Away.
12:41Thank bloody God you're here.
12:42I think I've got a baby snake in the pool.
12:44Oh, okay.
12:44This is Mike Rowe.
12:45Hey, how are you?
12:4630 chops.
12:46Here we are.
12:47Nice to meet you.
12:47Great, thank you.
12:47He's my apprentice for the day.
12:49And this is a crew.
12:50Aren't you lucky, Mike?
12:50Yeah.
12:51We'll just go around.
12:53Nice place.
12:54Except for all the deadly venomous snakes.
12:57Yes.
12:57So they're swimming somewhere around in the pool.
12:59So can they live underwater, these things?
13:01Oh, they can for quite a while.
13:03They're not in the pool, obviously.
13:04So the skimmers suck everything into the skimmer box.
13:08We actually had a guy bitten earlier in the year.
13:10He took the lid off, and he had a brown snake hanging on his finger.
13:14So you would need your gloves for this one.
13:16You want me to unlock this?
13:18Yeah, you've got the gloves on.
13:21Well, there's one.
13:22Oh, jeez, right there.
13:23So someone's going to go and put their hand in there to clean that out.
13:27And they're going to be dead in 14 minutes.
13:29Yep.
13:30He's gone under the boat.
13:33Now we have a project.
13:35Just pull all the stuff out first.
13:38Yeah, don't get bit again, man.
13:39If he keeps his hand in the middle, he shouldn't be able to strike it.
13:42Oh.
13:43Oh, jeez, I just think.
13:44There's one there.
13:45Is that the same one we saw?
13:46No, he was up in here.
13:48Yeah, watch, he doesn't climb out.
13:49He's only a baby, too, and he nearly hatched.
13:51So there could be quite a few more in there.
13:53When a mama brown snake lays her eggs, they call it a clutch.
13:56Probably means there's a clutch.
13:57It's just recently hatched nearby, maybe one of the neighboring properties.
14:01Think of a clutch like a litter of poisonous kittens.
14:03However, a clutch might have as many as 30 eggs in it,
14:06which means there's probably more than one killer snake lurking around.
14:10It's just so creepy.
14:11I mean, you could come out here at night and just be, you know, splashing around in your pool.
14:16These guys are swimming right along with you.
14:18Now, do we know that there's just one in there?
14:19Well, you're going to have to sift through it to find out.
14:21Sift through it?
14:22Yep.
14:24Maybe we should just get rid of some of these leaves.
14:25Yep, that's it.
14:27Just so they can curl up real small, so be careful.
14:34There he is.
14:35Got him old and deadly.
14:37I think it's pretty safe to say it's just one.
14:39Okay.
14:40So there's one snake in there.
14:41Take him out.
14:42He can go into the container.
14:44Newly hatched browns right out of the egg carry enough venom to kill 20 adult humans.
14:49It's a juvenile commoner eastern brown snake.
14:51Which brings us back to the subject of leather gloves.
14:54Yeah, I'm a fan.
14:57Oh, I think he just smelled Doug.
14:59I don't think he liked it.
15:00Not one bit.
15:04Oh, and there he's fighting now.
15:06So, there's another one in here then, other than concrete.
15:09We've got a second one.
15:10He's vanished into a tiny hole.
15:12You need a jackhammer and some dynamite.
15:15I just saw a tongue, I think.
15:17Yeah, I did, too.
15:18Right there.
15:19Right here.
15:19Yeah, his tongue.
15:21I'll try and flush him out.
15:23If he comes out, I'll grab him.
15:26So, if you keep very, very still, and flush the water out from there.
15:31From down in here?
15:31Yep.
15:36Poking out again.
15:37He doesn't like it.
15:38He doesn't like it.
15:38There's his tail.
15:39There's his tail.
15:40Oh, there he is.
15:41Grab his head.
15:42I'm sorry.
15:43It just goes against a lot of instinct, yeah.
15:46Even with the gloves, sorry.
15:48Bad move.
15:48I'll get it next time, I promise.
15:51Where we going?
15:52Where are you from?
15:53Oh, gee!
15:55Got it.
15:56Bad boy.
15:57You made it hard, didn't you?
15:58Yeah, because we worked two out of there.
16:01We're going to keep flooding, make sure there's no more.
16:03All right.
16:03Somebody smart once said that bad things always come in threes.
16:07Here he is.
16:08I see the head.
16:09I see the head right there.
16:10Okay, grab, grab.
16:11And sure enough, there's the third bad thing.
16:14I have him.
16:15I got him.
16:15I got him.
16:16I got him.
16:16I got him.
16:18Well done.
16:22Do you reckon this is easy?
16:23I reckon he's just chewing the crap out of me right now.
16:25Look at him.
16:26There you go.
16:27Look at that, Dave.
16:28Out of one angry, venomous, top three venomous things on the planet, right?
16:33He's currently pumping all the venom he has into my glove.
16:37He seems very angry.
16:38I've seen my share of big, risky jobs back in the States, but here in Australia, even
16:43the little things will put you in a body bag.
16:46I mean, three, what are they, what are they, they travel in pairs?
16:49Up to 30?
16:50Up to 30?
16:52Well, I don't know.
16:53If I were here, I'd probably sell the place and move to North Dakota.
16:56You ready?
16:57So, after we sent Larry into the can with Curly and Moe, Ian ascertained that the pool
17:01was once again safe to swim in.
17:03So, we raced off to our second date with death, only slightly behind schedule.
17:12Right there.
17:13Yep.
17:14Hi, Ian from Snake Away.
17:16Oh, thank you.
17:16You got a problem with a snake?
17:18Yes.
17:18Yeah?
17:19Me too.
17:19Okay.
17:20Yeah, it's not in the backyard.
17:21In the backyard, is it?
17:22Yeah.
17:23Right.
17:23So, this is all from my merry room.
17:25Could be.
17:25Could be here.
17:26Could be.
17:26All right, so she saw a snake in the backyard.
17:29Of course, by now, it could be anywhere.
17:30And since snakes like to hide in dark, closed spaces, we'll start in the garage, rummaging
17:35around in someone else's personal effects.
17:38Naturally, we proceed with great care and respect.
17:42Uh-oh.
17:44Watch out there.
17:45These are the sorts of things that you're dealing with all the time.
17:47Uh-huh.
17:48Nothing even under there.
17:49That's not a snake.
17:50Very observed.
17:51This is a classic.
17:52Sure, because they...
17:53Contain water.
17:54Yeah.
17:55So it attracts...
17:55It can curl right up around it.
17:56Yep.
17:56It's got something to drink.
17:58And cool off it.
17:59Yep.
17:59Let me know if you see a snake, Doug.
18:01Looks fairly clean and open.
18:04Also, we've got an open door there.
18:06So what's that tell you?
18:07The door doesn't close properly like this.
18:11That's ample room for a snake to go through.
18:13A five-foot brown snake, six-foot brown snake can go through that with these.
18:17We'll just have a look in.
18:18Excuse me.
18:19Does this door stay open all the time?
18:20Doesn't close properly?
18:21Since it goes out, this door could have well been open.
18:25Yep.
18:26It could be in your house then, right?
18:27Uh-huh.
18:28Yeah.
18:29Do you mind if we just come in?
18:30No, not at all.
18:32Have you noticed any mice in the area at all?
18:34Yeah, one or two.
18:35Okay.
18:36I did have one in the pantry at one stage.
18:39Right.
18:39Which I think I've got the rid of.
18:41Right.
18:41Okay, we'll just check in the pantry because she's noticed she's had mice in the place.
18:46That door has got gaps on the side.
18:48Room enough for a big...
18:50Yeah.
18:50Yeah.
18:51And you said there have been mice around?
18:54Yes.
18:54Yeah?
18:55Well, usually once a year you'll find there's a bit of a mouse plague, but...
18:59Yeah.
19:00A bit of a plague?
19:01Is that what you said?
19:02A little bit.
19:03We did get those here, unfortunately.
19:05Just a touch of plague.
19:08Hello.
19:08We've got a visitor.
19:09Something's happening.
19:10We've got some pretty big mice.
19:12Yeah.
19:13I'll turn this light on.
19:15Hello.
19:16That's a snake.
19:19That's an absolute snake right there.
19:22See where it's gone to?
19:23No, it's vanished.
19:24It's behind the box back there somewhere.
19:26If he's up on that level...
19:27He's on this shelf right there he is.
19:29There's his head right there, right there, right there.
19:30That's his head.
19:31Good one, good one.
19:32Yep.
19:33So his head is behind that box right there.
19:36You know what?
19:37What if these boxes here got removed?
19:39Can you do that?
19:40Yep, I can get them out of here, Wayne.
19:42Hello.
19:42Yeah, we've got Hicks and mice dropping.
19:44Good grief.
19:45Look at that.
19:45There's your...
19:46You've had mice feeding all the way through your back here.
19:49Oh, okay.
19:50So that's why we've got a snake here.
19:52Yeah, he's back in there.
19:53No doubt about it.
19:54It's that long, black, slithery thing behind the box.
19:57Hey, Ian, this is a big snake.
19:59He's all jammed up in the corner back there
20:01and he's licking his chops and he's sticking his tongue out.
20:03He's not happy.
20:04Okay.
20:04This is an unhappy snake.
20:06If you could get the box.
20:07There he is.
20:08Oh, he's bad.
20:09Listen, I feel I'm pinned.
20:10I'm seriously pinned back here.
20:16Oh, that is not cool, man.
20:22Hey, Ian, this is a big snake.
20:24There he is.
20:24Oh, he's bad.
20:26Listen, I feel I'm pinned.
20:27I'm seriously pinned back here.
20:33Oh, that is not cool, man.
20:38Not cool.
20:39Okay.
20:39All right, where's that other grabby, squishy thing?
20:41I've got them both here.
20:42You got it?
20:42You got it?
20:43If you will.
20:44How come you got both my tools in your hand?
20:46Well, you've only got two in your hands.
20:47Yeah, but you can find something that might save my life.
20:51Okay.
20:52All right.
20:53Are you gripping?
20:54Now, hold on a second.
20:55See, when you're back there in that corner,
20:56you're just jammed in there like nobody's business.
20:59It's impossible to see or move.
21:00I'll see if I can get in.
21:01All right.
21:03Bring it to set.
21:03Oh, jeez.
21:08He's not happy.
21:11Well done.
21:12You ready?
21:13I guess.
21:15Oh, no, look.
21:15There's his head.
21:16Oh, yeah-ha.
21:17All right.
21:17Should we put him in a bag here or take him outside?
21:19No, he's going to have to go outside.
21:21We can't put him in here.
21:22It's too slippery.
21:23Okay, okay, okay.
21:23Troy, step up.
21:24Okay.
21:25You should step back in.
21:27I don't know if I got him or not.
21:28I think I got him.
21:30All right.
21:31Keep him low down to the ground.
21:33We'll take our gloves off.
21:35Okay.
21:37Okay, just there will do.
21:39Uh-huh.
21:39Too big for me.
21:40Now, pin him with your other end.
21:42All right, hold on.
21:42I'm trying to figure out.
21:43I want all my training to come back.
21:44That's it.
21:45So this was...
21:46Okay, right.
21:46I got to pin him like this, right?
21:48Pin him with this right behind his head.
21:50Yeah, if he's going to let you.
21:52Yep.
21:53That's a good one.
21:54That's good.
21:54I got it.
21:55Okay.
21:55Right foot about there.
21:56Like that?
21:57That's pretty good.
21:58Okay.
21:58Now, from there, I'd let go with your claw.
22:02Is this a brown snake?
22:03This is a brown snake.
22:04Okay.
22:04This is number two on the hit list in the world.
22:05Believe me, we know all about number two on the show.
22:08All right.
22:08I just have to ask you, are you sure you don't want me to just take its head off right
22:11now?
22:13I can't afford the paw in, mate.
22:14All right.
22:14All right.
22:15I'm going to keep my foot here.
22:16Yep.
22:17And I'm going to nudge this forward with my index finger, like so.
22:21Yeah.
22:22She's so deadly.
22:24You get bit, you die in 14 minutes, right?
22:26Doing well.
22:26It's in your pantry, madam.
22:28In your pantry with your mice poop.
22:30All right.
22:32We're going to have to have a serious talk about your mice.
22:35They're like this.
22:36You got to come in here like this.
22:38Get them like this.
22:38Slightly.
22:40For those of you playing along at home, that sack is not made of Kevlar or some super safe space
22:45-age material.
22:46No, it's a pillowcase.
22:48And yeah, brown snake teeth can bite right through it.
22:51Something like...
22:52Ah, I don't know where his head is.
22:54I don't know.
22:54All I see is...
22:55That's all right.
22:55Stand up.
22:56Yeah, yeah.
22:57Pull this over.
22:58Yeah.
22:58Ah, crap.
22:59I dropped his tail.
23:00Can you grab his tail for me, man?
23:01That'd be great.
23:02Thanks.
23:02Here, hold on for me.
23:04I guess, see, see.
23:05Bring it over to the top.
23:05Slowly, slowly.
23:07What the...
23:08Oh, that's the string.
23:09I thought it was a tail.
23:09Crab.
23:10Grab his head?
23:11Yeah, yeah.
23:11Dusty.
23:12Ah, look at that rookie move.
23:14It's almost as though I've never done this before.
23:17I sure hope that's his head still between my fingers.
23:19A bloody high side turn.
23:20I really do, because I can't feel anything anymore.
23:22I don't know what it is.
23:23Let's put him on the ground.
23:24Okay.
23:24What foot?
23:25What's your hands?
23:26Yeah.
23:27I feel him moving around.
23:28Hold on.
23:29Done.
23:31Huh?
23:32Very, very lucky.
23:35You're lucky.
23:35You're a professional doing it.
23:38I'm very lucky.
23:40Oh.
23:41Pretty exciting, huh?
23:42Yeah.
23:43You know what?
23:43Here, I want you to have this.
23:47It's an honor.
23:48How are you, sir?
23:49I'm glad it was you.
23:50Yes, in your pantry.
23:51I'm glad it was me, too.
23:52I'm glad I hadn't started to make dinner.
23:56What's on the menu tonight?
23:57Snake.
23:57Excellent.
23:58Now, is it just me, but do you think it's kind of crazy that legally we have to release
24:02these things somewhere within the vicinity of where we caught them?
24:04I think it's crazy.
24:06I think it's crazy, too.
24:07I mean, legally, we have to leave this, I guess, in your bedroom at this point.
24:10Well, yes.
24:16As long as it's in a pillowcase, why wouldn't we take it to the bedroom?
24:19Yeah, this looks like a great place for some kids to come and play and swing.
24:23Let's go ahead and put the killers here.
24:24I just need to voice my concern one more time.
24:29We are going to follow the letter of the Australian law and release the second most venomous snake
24:36in the country back into the wild, approximately five kilometers from where we found it.
24:43We do this because we're law-abiding people, not because it's necessarily the smartest course
24:48of action.
24:49Would it be wrong to reintroduce them to the wild without taking them from the container?
24:54In other words, just tossing the whole thing?
24:56Uh, no, it would probably get done under animal welfare act.
25:01Okay, correct.
25:02And so restraining the vigilante in me and all vestiges of common sense, I release four lethal
25:07reptiles and watch helplessly as they slither into the weeds.
25:11Yeah, we'll lift them up.
25:13Spawn a clutch or two and return to granny's food pantry or a residential pool filter.
25:19You sleep well, Adelaide.
25:21We said our goodbyes to Adelaide and traded wheels for wings.
25:25We flew the friendly skies to the other side of the continent, where on the coast of the Timor Sea,
25:30we found the capital of the Northern Territory of Australia, the city of Darwin.
25:41Here in Darwin, the pest control business operates a bit more like the dirty jobs you've come to love, which
25:47is good, because at night, a menacing evil emerges from the darkness, killing without mercy.
25:53It's not a dingo, or a rabbit wallaby, or a deranged kangaroo.
25:58It's a toad, specifically, the cane toad.
26:02For a little background, in the 1930s, an obscure beetle was destroying the sugarcane crops of northern Australia.
26:09So authorities imported 102 of these guys.
26:12Of course, the cane toad didn't eat the beetle.
26:15What they did do was have a lot of sex and eat everything else.
26:19The cane toad consumes 200 times more food than native frogs.
26:23By some estimates, there are now over a billion of them.
26:26The cane toad has become the cockroach of the amphibian species.
26:30What makes them so dangerous?
26:31Well, they excrete a venom through their glands behind their ears, so when the indigenous species of Australia eat them,
26:38they get a serious case of food poisoning and die.
26:41Some reptiles have seen a 90% drop in population.
26:45The cane toad is literally destroying the northern Australian ecosystem.
26:49So what do Australians do to take care of this problem?
26:53Well, here in Darwin, they elect a toad master and use them for sport.
27:00What's your name?
27:01Cliff.
27:01Cliff, Mike.
27:02Mike, thank you.
27:03You are the toad master?
27:04So they're poisonous?
27:06Yeah.
27:06Yeah, they're poisonous.
27:07So what about touching them like this?
27:09I mean, it's...
27:10As long as I wash my hands later on, yeah, because they do...
27:12They put out a poison.
27:13Cane toads are harmful to humans only if you eat them or lick them.
27:16So don't do that.
27:18Some idiots, you get them...
27:19Licking them?
27:20Licking them.
27:20Crazy.
27:21People lick anything.
27:22Yeah, just...
27:24Want me to help you up?
27:25Yeah, if you like, yeah.
27:27Oh, that's a nice one.
27:28Oh, he's plump.
27:29He's a vegan.
27:29Cliff has me fastening numbers onto the toads, just like the horses in the Kentucky Derby.
27:35Oh, well, not exactly.
27:37Is there a...
27:38Like a giant one on record?
27:40The biggest cane toad ever?
27:42There is.
27:42Tell you the truth.
27:43It is in Queens, right?
27:45What did I tell you?
27:47He's a...
27:47He's a...
27:48He's a way, get him.
27:56Got him.
27:59He's a way.
27:59This is the one you want to bet on, number 13.
28:01Number 13.
28:03Yeah, 13 can move.
28:06Plus, he just peed all over me, so...
28:08Same time.
28:08That is an...
28:09Ah, bad toad.
28:11Coming up.
28:12They really assume kind of an action pose when they're frozen.
28:15I discover a new and exciting line of children's toys.
28:17Oh, now, limited time offer.
28:19Yeah, you can get the whole set.
28:26Nothing more Australian than a cane toad race, I reckon.
28:31It's certainly up there in the top five.
28:33Twenty cane toads have arrived in a sack.
28:36One by one, we are preparing them for battle.
28:41Or at least, ah, competition.
28:43You have to be very careful with the cane toad.
28:45Aside from being poisonous, they are profoundly incontinent.
28:51That is disappointing.
28:54To bring you all the incredible excitement of this important event
28:57and chew up some valuable TV time,
28:59my crew devised a way to put you right in the middle of the toad action.
29:03We've got a lot of questionable things.
29:05This is another one.
29:07Doug, you really are an artist.
29:10It...
29:11It's going to be...
29:12It's going too far.
29:13One could say his movement's slightly impeded.
29:17I mean, that works.
29:20You know, he's working.
29:21I've got a burden of being forward.
29:22That's fine.
29:24All right.
29:24I'm about to grab him before he's gone.
29:26Can you get him, please?
29:27Pick him up.
29:28Pick him up before he goes outside, Brian.
29:32Okay, I'll come down.
29:32This will be number three.
29:34As you can see, number three is going to be working with a slight handicap.
29:38That would be twice his weight.
29:41All right, good.
29:42Now, should we watch the poison off our hands?
29:44That'd be a good idea.
29:45I'll just...
29:48Back here.
29:55Just trying to get a little bit of the poison off my hands.
30:00All right, everybody.
30:02You got a chair for your tone?
30:04Are we ready?
30:06All right.
30:08All right.
30:09Let's go 13.
30:10There goes 13.
30:13Come on, baby.
30:21Come on.
30:22Come on.
30:24Come on.
30:25Come on.
30:26Come on.
30:26Come on.
30:28There you go.
30:34That's right.
30:36Fourth place.
30:37Number 11.
30:38Who's at number 11?
30:38A tradition for winning the co-tode race.
30:42You get to hold your winning co-tode.
30:43Yeah, hold it.
30:44And you give it a nice little peck on the cheek.
30:45No, that's not happening.
30:48Wish I got a couple hundred...
30:49There you go.
30:50That is even smiling.
30:51That would be all over me before, so it's empty.
30:54So you're safe.
30:55Are you sure?
30:56No, I made that up.
30:59Freedom.
31:00Oh, freedom.
31:03Oh.
31:06Oh.
31:06Oh.
31:08Oh.
31:08Oh.
31:08Got me.
31:10I'll be dead by morning.
31:11You got to love how the Aussies deal with the biological war.
31:15They literally play games with their enemies.
31:17It's good for morale, but not all that effective in getting rid of them.
31:23Graham Sawyer is the former mayor of Darwin and something of a crusader.
31:27A self-proclaimed toad buster, his crusade is to combat this massive ecological nightmare
31:33by ridding the town of all cane toads.
31:37A true patriot, he will not sit idly by as his country is overrun by an army of non-indigenous
31:44amphibians.
31:45Now, I was correct when I said that you were the mayor of Darwin?
31:49Yeah, yes.
31:49Lord Mayor of Darwin up until recently.
31:51Lord Mayor?
31:52Yeah.
31:53Is there a difference between a mayor and a Lord Mayor?
31:54No, look, it's something to do with the size of the city and the capital city status.
31:58No, I don't think we've ever had a Lord on the show before, so it's a big day for us.
32:03So, what's the goal tonight?
32:05Look, the goal tonight is just to get rid of every toad that's around this area.
32:08This is a perfect habitat for cane toads down here because they've got a bit of moisture
32:12and lots of nice short grass, and they like to hunt in short grass because they're very
32:15much a visual hunting animal.
32:17They'll be hunting them as they're hunting whatever they hunt.
32:19That's right.
32:20They'll be out eating insects and anything else that moves.
32:22Yeah.
32:24Mike, there's your first victim.
32:26Where is that?
32:26You can see the eye there and they're just popping across the grass there.
32:29The hatred of the cane toad is so widespread, the townspeople from all ages join in for
32:35the popular toad hunts.
32:37Oh, yeah, there's two.
32:43Oh.
32:44Can't get in there.
32:45Smart.
32:46Oh, look, he ran for cover.
32:48Oh, now he darned off.
32:50In this entire toad-busting operation, nobody gets paid.
32:54It's a complete volunteer militia.
32:57Got it.
32:58I really don't know how to stop being.
33:00The irony is ironic.
33:02A handful of non-indigenous toads are brought in to control a local pest.
33:0680 years later, the non-indigenous toads are a much bigger problem, and the entire ecosystem
33:11of northern Australia is under siege.
33:14Disgusting animals.
33:17There's one.
33:17So let's hear it for Graham, a man of action who knows his enemy.
33:22Good catch.
33:23So that's actually, um, if you just have a look at his back, if you rub your finger
33:28down there, feel how rough that is like sandpaper.
33:30It's a boy, and I've also got the yellow underneath.
33:33Yellow underneath on the throat, and a hard back is a boy.
33:37Just say no to toads.
33:39No.
33:40No.
33:49See, that's the sound.
33:52Just when I thought toad hunting was a relatively risk-free operation.
33:59Yeah, just a nice little water hole.
34:01And the toads have found it and love it.
34:03Graham led me down to the swampy river bank.
34:06Water's down to the left?
34:07Yeah, just down here.
34:09Crocodiles have got really, really bright eyeshines.
34:12If you see any very bright red eyes looking at you out of here, then you can start to worry.
34:18There's a lot of stuff alive in here.
34:27What do you see?
34:31What kind of snake is that?
34:33Keelback.
34:35Say again?
34:36Keelback.
34:36Keelback?
34:38Poisonous?
34:38No.
34:39All right, enough already with the spooky music.
34:42It's not even poisonous.
34:43And let's be honest, what the heck am I even doing here?
34:46I'm a hot and sweaty grown man running around in the dark with a bunch of boys.
34:49It's weird.
34:50So scary.
34:52Nothing to see here.
34:53Move along.
34:55From which U.S. state were Australia's cane toads originally imported?
35:01The answer is D. Hawaii.
35:06The answer, when we come back.
35:16Hawaii, the apostrophe is not a typo.
35:22If you've just joined us, we're circling a dam outside of Darwin and looking for cane toads.
35:30So the job is ambitious and maybe futile.
35:33Get rid of a gajillion poisonous cane toads.
35:36It's hard to peel on me when you're upside down.
35:38Isn't it?
35:39Feudal or not, when you love Australia as much as Graham Sawyer does, you'll do whatever you
35:44can to make a dent in the toad population.
35:47Even if it feels like chasing windmills.
35:50I picked up one right back there, but not.
35:52I don't see many.
35:54You got a couple, three, two?
35:56Maybe it's working.
35:58Yeah, well.
35:59Maybe they see these shirts coming and they just run through the hills.
36:02Like, oh no, that looks like me with a circle around my head and a line through me.
36:07So we bring the toads to Graham Sawyer's garage, where they will join millions of their brethren
36:12in that great choir invisible and shuffle off their non-indigenous mortal coils.
36:16That's right.
36:17We're going to kill them.
36:18We'll squeeze like so, give it a turn.
36:20The gas is carbon dioxide.
36:22The toads breathe it in, meet Mr. Sandman, and croak no more.
36:28It's like an anesthetic, basically.
36:29Yeah.
36:30Count backwards from 100 cane toads.
36:35So again, just to recap, it's a war, basically.
36:38Well, it is, really, yeah.
36:39I mean, it's a massive war, really, to try and defend our native wildlife.
36:44Yeah.
36:45You mentioned something about recycling, ashes to ashes, some final step involved here.
36:51Yeah, well, the next step we've worked out is a fertilizer process where we can put all
36:55the dead cane toads into fertilizer rather than just dumping them.
36:59How efficient is the fertilizer?
37:00Yeah, look, it's pretty good.
37:01It's particularly good for vegetables and flowers.
37:04It's high in potassium.
37:05Yeah.
37:06It seems to work.
37:07So when exactly do we go through the fertilizing process?
37:12Well, we'll do that tomorrow.
37:13That's a daylight job, thank goodness.
37:14Oh, good.
37:15We'll just leave these here in your garage then?
37:16Yeah, well, we've got a freezer over there.
37:18We can...
37:18Oh, you're free to put them in there as well.
37:20Great.
37:20The old toad freezer.
37:24Oh, are those toads as well?
37:26They are, pretty much.
37:27How many toads in here altogether?
37:29Oh, looks hard to say.
37:32It's starting to smell like something.
37:34Yeah, there's a few in here that didn't get processed as well as they might have.
37:42There we go.
37:43Perfect.
37:45Okay, so tomorrow we come back and we...
37:47Then we turn them into fertilizer.
37:49Yeah.
37:50Welcome to part three of our cane toad adventure.
37:53Of course, we met Dave in the second part of day one where we encountered the toads.
37:58That's Graham, by the way.
37:59This is so complicated.
38:01You're Dave.
38:02Graham, feel free to correct me on camera at any time,
38:05especially when it involves something as personal as your name.
38:10What I meant to say was, we're with Graham Sawyer,
38:13former Lord Mayor of Darwin and King of the Toadbusters.
38:18And today we're transforming frozen toads into fertilizer.
38:21They really assume kind of an action pose when they're frozen.
38:26Now you can get the whole set.
38:28For all now, a limited time offer.
38:31So lifelike.
38:34That's unusual.
38:35Sculpture.
38:36I sculpted.
38:36Oh, this is...
38:37Oh, here they were.
38:38Well, these two were mating in the final moments.
38:41So we're just going to take all these out and put them in the back of the truck.
38:50This, I think, has real possibilities.
38:53Troy, you just had a little baby.
38:54What's her name again?
38:56Josephine.
38:56Josephine.
38:57Wouldn't the little Josephine love this?
38:59You could put it in, like, the Dirty Jobs soundtrack, and it would slowly spin.
39:04It would teach you so much about wildlife.
39:08With the frozen toads fast defrosting, we made our way to the fertilizer processing area.
39:14I like to think of it more like a funeral processional with the added urgency of an emergency vehicle strobe.
39:21After all, we had a couple hundred cane toads on their way to burial with all the dignified respectability Australia
39:28can offer.
39:38If you're wondering if toads smell a little bit after they've been frozen and slowly thaw out, they do.
39:47That's a snake.
39:47It's a big snake.
39:48What kind of snake is this?
39:50Big olipotten.
39:51He was a roadkill that...
39:52Oh.
39:53I think he was one that got handed in because he died from eating a cane toad.
39:57Really?
39:58Well, that's kind of fascinating.
40:03Oh, so here's a...
40:05Here's a first-hand look at why the cane toad's got to go.
40:08He was quite a snake.
40:09Yeah, he was.
40:10That visual tells the story better than anything I could say.
40:14Yeah, look, it's a really sad, sad story.
40:16So all over Queensland, certainly, and other parts, your indigenous species are basically dying because they're eating, licking, or otherwise
40:26biting these things, which are everywhere.
40:29Let's go ahead and liquefy them.
40:32What is it?
40:33potassium hydroxide.
40:34Oh, yeah.
40:35You just...
40:37Do you make that sound when you do it?
40:42How long has it taken to liquefy?
40:44Most of those will be gone in four or five days.
40:49So in four or five days, the hydrogen, potassium?
40:52potassium hydroxide will start to...
40:55Break them down.
40:55Break them down.
40:56They'll just turn to brown soup.
40:57And so the soupy toad juice will fertilize the fields and gardens of Australia, where the protected brown snake will
41:04continue to slither along until it chows down on a poisonous cane toad and dies,
41:09before it can get caught in someone's pantry and be released back into the wild.
41:14It's a never-ending cycle.
41:16Or as the...
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