- 1 day ago
Mike assists Ian Renton of Snake-A-Way Services in Adelaide as he removes deadly brown snakes from people's homes. To effectively carry out the task, Renton makes use of a pillowcase cover, some tools, and his bare hands.....
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00:09My name's Mike Rowe, and this is my job.
00:14Here we go.
00:16I've made a mess in all 50 states.
00:18A big one.
00:19Now, I'm packing my bags for Australia,
00:22land of kangaroos...
00:23Look at me. I'm over here.
00:25...and didgeridoos.
00:26Mm-hmm.
00:28But I'll be doing more than cuddling koalas.
00:31Oh, her bum is soaking wet.
00:32I'll be getting dirty down under.
00:37I'm still trying to get my head around what I just saw.
00:42Coming up on Dirty Jobs...
00:45We here?
00:46Yes.
00:46I attempt two risky vocations...
00:48He does get through that glove, and I'm absolutely going to the hospital.
00:51...in two major cities...
00:54...on opposite ends of a really big country.
00:57I'm going to hunt down some invaders.
00:59One kills humans...
01:00That's an absolute snake right there.
01:02Oh!
01:03...and the other is destroying the entire Australian continent.
01:06Maybe they see these shirts coming, and they just run for the hills.
01:09Sure, it's dangerous.
01:10Fortunately, I'm positively brimming with confidence.
01:13Steady as can be.
01:14Nothing to worry about.
01:17Someone's got to do it.
01:27Australia.
01:28It's a beautiful and dusty country with many places and faces.
01:34Of course, they've got the outback, the bush, and the jungle.
01:39Holy smokes.
01:41There are plenty of dirty jobs in the land down under.
01:44But Australia has some great towns, too.
01:46And today, we're hitting the streets for some cold-blooded work.
01:51Here's the situation.
01:52We're at our little hotel this morning.
01:54It really isn't so bad.
01:56That's the lead car up there.
01:57That'll be driven by Bettina.
01:59Good morning, Bettina.
02:00We're about to do some driving in Adelaide.
02:01It's going to be very exciting, isn't it?
02:03It is.
02:04And by cold-blooded, I mean reptiles and amphibians.
02:07What do you think's more dangerous?
02:08The drive we're about to take, or the snakes we're about to wrangle?
02:12Definitely the snakes.
02:13Doug, do you have any thoughts on this?
02:15I just want to go, and Dave is in the driver's side,
02:18which, of course, is conspicuously located on the wrong side of the car.
02:23Who's actually driving the third car?
02:26Amber's driving?
02:27Oh, no way.
02:29Amber, what's the hold-up?
02:32I'm sure we're just making sure everyone's sitting there.
02:34That's bad news.
02:35Are you kidding me?
02:36Oh, Amber's driving the car.
02:37Amber's behind the wheel.
02:39We agreed that Amber shouldn't be behind the wheel of a vehicle in the United States.
02:42I know.
02:43I was driving with Amber Jones.
02:46Jones and your behind-the-scenes guy.
02:47Oh, I hope to God they're shooting that.
02:49Jones and Amber in the same car?
02:51Uh, you're coming up on another.
02:52Is it going to change red?
02:54Here.
02:55Stop.
02:55Perfect.
02:59Brakes work.
03:00Jones ain't a great driver, either.
03:03He's not?
03:03No.
03:04But he's angry at other people's driving.
03:06Yes.
03:07We're going to go straight.
03:08How's that as a plan?
03:09How about they slow down?
03:11But he will, uh, in anger, make decisions.
03:16Yeah, similar to you.
03:17Yeah, but I'm a good driver.
03:20Adelaide is the capital of South Australia.
03:23All right, so here we are, the streets of Adelaide.
03:25We are set on the wrong side of the road.
03:28And at a glance, it looks pretty much like any old U.S. city.
03:34But one thing that makes Adelaide special is snakes.
03:37More venomous snakes than any other town on planet Earth.
03:45The most dangerous snake in Adelaide is also the most prominent.
03:49It's the eastern brown snake.
03:51And yeah, it's deadly.
03:53I think it's the second most deadliest snake in the world, you know.
03:56To even try and catch it, you've got to be certified.
03:59You know, the babies are worse.
04:00They're like this big.
04:02Yeah.
04:02They're more concentrated.
04:05Venom.
04:06Today, the job's pretty straightforward, to hunt and catch these deadly reptiles,
04:11which are no longer content to live in the wild.
04:13In Adelaide, they've moved into schools, grocery stores, children's bedrooms, pretty much everywhere.
04:20Based on what you know, we're going to be dealing with two different kinds of snakes.
04:23So let's get to it.
04:24Let's make Adelaide safe and kill some poisonous snakes.
04:28All right, this is the guy's place, right?
04:29So we're at his house?
04:31Yeah, this is where he's got a lot of his stuff.
04:34Snake-A-Way is the pest control business of a friendly bloke called Ian Renton.
04:39At the height of summer, Ian gets 80 calls a day to remove snakes from people's homes.
04:44Ian operates out of his humble home, which he shares with dozens of slithery friends,
04:51including some infamous browns.
04:55To be clear, one bite from a brown snake can kill you.
05:00Sometimes in just 14 minutes.
05:03So if you're bitten by a brown snake, your chances for survival are slim.
05:08And before we even set up our cameras, one of Ian's roommates decided to bite the hand that feeds him.
05:16Oh, what happened?
05:17I'm going to go with you.
05:18This is one I was getting out for you to hold.
05:21What the heck?
05:22So where is it now?
05:24It's back in his cage.
05:25Was that a poisonous one?
05:26No.
05:26No, that's good news.
05:29That looks like a bee.
05:31Yeah, it's teeth.
05:32It's got teeth on it.
05:33It's so big.
05:35So they've gone in everywhere.
05:36You guys give us a call next time that happens.
05:40The gal on the right is Sam.
05:41She hails from New Zealand and came to snake away at Ian's request.
05:45Evidently, Ian wants to retire soon and is looking for someone to take over.
05:50I don't blame him.
05:51Ian.
05:53I'm filled with confidence.
05:55Today, Sam is impersonating a medic.
05:58Sam, have you been bitten like that before?
06:00No.
06:00No, only very small bites so far.
06:03Lucky for Ian, he was bitten by an olive python.
06:05I didn't get its name, but that's him right there, licking his chops.
06:09It has grown-up teeth, obviously.
06:11Yeah, their teeth can be up to three-eighths of an inch in length.
06:15Uh-huh.
06:16It can have up to about 180 teeth on its head.
06:20So in the wild, they actually take down kangaroos and drag them through ponds and eat them.
06:25Yeah.
06:26Ian's had this snake for years, and it's never bitten him before.
06:29Hard not to see this as an omen for the day ahead.
06:33Yeah, that's a deep puncture.
06:34It's an occupational hazard.
06:36I would imagine.
06:37On the bright side, if he gets bitten by a brown snake, the business could be Sam's in 14 minutes.
06:44So welcome to the beginning of the segment.
06:47There's been some excitement.
06:49You're feeling okay?
06:50Yeah, I'm fine, Tomo.
06:51All right.
06:52All right, to make it official, your full name?
06:54Ian Renton.
06:55And you are officially a what?
06:57Manager and owner of Snake Away Services.
06:59Snake Away is the name of the company?
07:01Yes.
07:01You're the big cheese.
07:02I'm the little cheese.
07:03Well, we're all for the same block of cheese.
07:07Yes.
07:07But there's more cheese here than there is here.
07:12Makes sense.
07:13You've lost a fair amount of blood, but we've taped you up and you seem game to move forward.
07:17But before we begin, of course, you're going to give me a tutorial.
07:20Yep, pretty well.
07:22Now, this is a juvenile brown snake.
07:23It is the time of year now when they're actually hatching out.
07:27These are some that we've actually booked caught in the last few weeks.
07:30These are actually more dangerous to deal with than the adults.
07:37The baby brown snake.
07:39The babies are.
07:39Okay.
07:39They're not used to what their venom can do.
07:41And when they bite, they tend to really latch on and chew on them, pumping copious amounts of venom.
07:47Highly deadly.
07:48So, is there sort of just a standing order in Australia to kill these things on sight?
07:53No, it's illegal to kill them.
07:55All native animals are protected by law.
07:57So, what do you do when you catch these?
07:59If they're protected, you don't release them again.
08:02They've got to be re-released back into the world.
08:04But there is starting to get too many of these coming out.
08:08The second most venomous snake, maybe on the planet, certainly in Australia, is a protected species.
08:14And even if you catch them, thereby making an area safe, you're legally required to release them.
08:20Yes.
08:20Thereby making an area unsafe.
08:23No, I get it.
08:24It's down under logic.
08:25Well, it's job security.
08:27True.
08:28These are the tools of trade.
08:30Obviously, they're used to grab snakes out from dangerous areas instead of putting your hands in there.
08:37So, we're going to practice on a little one?
08:39Yeah, we're going to start with the little ones.
08:41Okay, so just do that?
08:41Swatting with your hand, yep.
08:43You'll never take your eyes off the head.
08:46You just got to let him bite you then, basically.
08:48Yeah, if he bites you, then you can grab him.
08:50Come here.
08:51Oh, jeez, yeah.
08:53Bite him.
08:55I don't even like it.
08:56I don't like it when he bites the glove.
08:58It's all right.
08:59But he can't get through it.
09:00Yeah, I know.
09:01Look at him.
09:01He's just biting and squirting his deadly venom.
09:04So, he does get through that glove, and I'm absolutely going to the hospital.
09:07Oh, definitely.
09:09Okay.
09:10Feel comfortable with that?
09:11No, but, you know.
09:12Okay.
09:13Mm-hmm.
09:13It can go down.
09:15Uh.
09:17All right.
09:18So, now, it's a matter of keeping him contained.
09:21Hey, hey, hey.
09:22He's biting you.
09:24So, the more you move, the more aggressive he's going to get.
09:28Now, you're whipping him into a frenzy, you.
09:31I'm using the hook.
09:32Uh-huh.
09:32To keep him away from me.
09:35Let's get him over here towards Dave.
09:38All right, so.
09:39So, now you just want to pin him mid-body.
09:41Right.
09:42Like so.
09:42That's a good start.
09:43No, no.
09:44That was a bad end, though.
09:45Let's go like this, and then let's go.
09:48Oh, Jesus.
09:57Straight up and down.
09:59You got him there.
09:59Well done.
10:00Yeah.
10:01Now, as he flips around.
10:03Uh-huh.
10:03Have this down.
10:04Yeah, that'll do.
10:05Like that.
10:07Ian says the safest way to catch an adult snake is without gloves, which seems insane.
10:13This is because with a snake this big, you need a sense of touch in order to feel its jaw.
10:18It's critical.
10:19So, why did I wear gloves with the baby snake?
10:22Because the jaw of a baby snake is too small to feel.
10:26Plus, I want it to live.
10:28All right, that's a pretty good position to start.
10:30Uh-huh.
10:30You've got to get in here on the jawline.
10:32Your middle finger and thumb.
10:34Uh-huh.
10:34Your pointer finger on top.
10:41You feel the jawline?
10:42I do.
10:43Make sure you've got him around the jaw.
10:45I sure am trying.
10:46I really am.
10:47I want to have him around the jaw so bad.
10:49I want to...
10:49I really want to own this little son of a gun.
10:51Okay.
10:52Okay.
10:54Are you happy with that?
10:56Oh, happy's not even on the top ten list of words right now running through my head.
11:00But I am holding the second most venomous snake in the...
11:02You are.
11:03...in the place in the world where the most venomous snakes live.
11:06Top ten.
11:07Top ten.
11:08All right.
11:09All right, now you want me to put him in a bag?
11:11Yes.
11:13So now I'm going to put my index finger under him and my thumb on top of him.
11:17Yes.
11:17Like that.
11:18Yep.
11:21That's it.
11:21Well done.
11:22All right, thank you.
11:22Now that.
11:23Over.
11:24Down.
11:24Tip it up.
11:26Well done.
11:27A snake in a bag.
11:30So, now the phone rings, we go to an appointment, and we save someone.
11:34Yep.
11:35That's true.
11:36All right.
11:40And right on cue.
11:41Call's coming in right now.
11:42This is when all hell breaks loose.
11:46Oh, jeez.
11:48Steady as can be.
11:49Nothing to worry about.
11:50Somewhere in Adelaide, the second deadliest snake in Australia has made an unscheduled appearance.
11:56We need to find it before it strikes an innocent victim.
12:03Do this?
12:04Yep.
12:05And take that just in case.
12:07Well, this doesn't have to all be my responsibility.
12:09I want Sam involved.
12:11You want to carry?
12:11No, no, no.
12:12The apprentice always does everything.
12:14Yeah.
12:15All right.
12:16We'll just go to the front door and check with him.
12:20Hi.
12:21Ian from Snakeaway.
12:22Thank bloody God you're here.
12:23I think I've got a baby snake in the pool.
12:25Oh, okay.
12:26This is Mike Rowe.
12:27Hey, how are you?
12:2730 shots.
12:28How are you?
12:28Nice to meet you.
12:29Great, thank you.
12:29He's my apprentice for the day, and this is a crew.
12:31Aren't you lucky, mate?
12:32Yeah.
12:33So, we'll just go around.
12:35Nice place.
12:36Except for all the deadly venomous snakes.
12:38Yes.
12:39So, they're swimming somewhere around in the pool.
12:41So, can they live underwater, these things?
12:43Oh, they can for quite a while.
12:45They're not in the pool, obviously.
12:46So, the skimmers suck everything into the skimmer box.
12:50We actually had a guy bitten earlier in the ear.
12:52He took the lid off, and he had a brown snake hanging on his finger.
12:57So, you would need your gloves for this one.
12:59You want me to unlock this?
13:00Yeah, you've got the gloves on.
13:04Well, there's one.
13:05Oh, jeez, right there.
13:06So, someone's going to go and put their hand in there to clean that out.
13:11And they're going to be dead in 14 minutes.
13:12Yep.
13:13He's gone under the boat.
13:15And now, now we have a project.
13:18Just pull all the stuff out first.
13:22Yeah, don't get bit again, man.
13:23If he keeps his hand in the middle, he shouldn't be able to strike it.
13:27Oh, jeez, there's a snake.
13:28There's one there.
13:29Is that the same one we saw?
13:30No, he was up in here.
13:32Yeah, watch, he doesn't climb out.
13:33He's only a baby, too, and he nearly hatched.
13:35So, there could be quite a few more in there.
13:37When a mama brown snake lays her eggs, they call it a clutch.
13:40Probably means there's a clutch that's recently hatched nearby, maybe one of the neighboring properties.
13:45Think of a clutch like a litter of poisonous kittens.
13:48However, a clutch might have as many as 30 eggs in it, which means there's probably more than one killer
13:53snake lurking around.
13:56It's just so creepy.
13:57I mean, you could come out here at night and just be, you know, splashing around in your pool.
14:01These guys are swimming right along with you.
14:03Now, do we know that there's just one in there?
14:05Oh, you're going to have to sift through it to find out.
14:07Sift through it?
14:08Yep.
14:09Maybe we should just get rid of some of these leaves.
14:11Yep, that's it.
14:13Just so I can curl up real small, so be careful.
14:20There he is.
14:21Got him old and deadly.
14:23I think it's pretty safe to say it's just one.
14:26Okay.
14:26So, there's one snake in there.
14:28Take him out.
14:29He can go into the container.
14:30Newly hatched browns right out of the egg carry enough venom to kill 20 adult humans.
14:35It's a germinal commoner eastern brown snake.
14:38Which brings us back to the subject of leather gloves.
14:41Yeah, I'm a fan.
14:44Oh, I think he just smelled Doug.
14:46I don't think he liked him.
14:48Not one bit.
14:50In the jar with you.
14:52Oh, and there he's fighting.
14:54So, there's another one in here then.
14:56Under the concrete.
14:56We've got a second one.
14:57He's vanished into a tiny hole.
14:59We need a jackhammer and some dynamite.
15:03I just saw a tongue, I think.
15:05Yeah, I did.
15:06Right there.
15:07Right here.
15:07Yeah, his tongue.
15:09I'll try and flush him out.
15:12If he comes out, I'll grab him.
15:14So, if you keep very, very still and flush the water out from there.
15:19From down in here?
15:20Yep.
15:25Closing out again.
15:26He doesn't like it.
15:26He doesn't like it.
15:27There's his tail.
15:28There's his tail.
15:29Oh, there he is.
15:30Grab his head.
15:31Grab him.
15:32I'm sorry.
15:33It just goes against a lot of instinct, even with the gloves.
15:37Sorry.
15:37Bad move.
15:38I'll get him next time, I promise.
15:40Here we go.
15:41Where are you from?
15:43Oh, gee.
15:45Got him.
15:46Bad boy.
15:47You made it hard, didn't you?
15:48Yeah, because we're too out of there.
15:50We're going to geek flood and make sure there's no more.
15:52All right.
15:53Somebody smart once said that bad things always come in threes.
15:57Here he is.
15:58I see the head.
15:59I see the head right there.
16:00Okay.
16:00Grab.
16:01Grab.
16:01And sure enough, there's the third bad thing.
16:05I have him.
16:05I got him.
16:06I got him.
16:06I got him.
16:07I got him.
16:12And you reckon this is easy?
16:14I reckon he's just chewing the crap out of me right now.
16:16Look at him.
16:17There you go.
16:18Look at that, Dave.
16:20Out of one angry, venomous, top three venomous snakes on the planet, right?
16:25He's currently pumping all the venom he has into my glove.
16:28He seems very angry.
16:30I do.
16:30I've seen my share of big, risky jobs back in the States, but here in Australia, even the
16:35little things will put you in a body bag.
16:37I mean, three, what are they?
16:39What are they?
16:39They travel in pairs?
16:41Up to 30.
16:42Up to 30?
16:44Well, I don't know.
16:45If I were here, I'd probably sell the place and move to North Dakota.
16:48You ready?
16:49So after we sent Larry into the can with Curly and Moe, Ian ascertained that the pool was once
16:54again safe to swim in.
16:56So we raced off to our second date with death, only slightly behind schedule.
17:05Right there?
17:06Yep.
17:07Hi, Ian from Snake Away.
17:09Oh, thank you.
17:10You got a problem with a snake?
17:11Yes.
17:11Yeah?
17:12Me too.
17:12Okay.
17:13Yeah, it's someone in the backyard.
17:15In the backyard, is it?
17:16Yeah.
17:16Right.
17:17So this is all primary or could be.
17:19Could be here.
17:19Could be.
17:20All right, so she saw a snake in the backyard.
17:23Of course, by now it could be anywhere.
17:24And since snakes like to hide in dark closed spaces, we'll start in the garage, rummaging around
17:30and someone else's personal effects.
17:32Naturally, we proceed with great care and respect.
17:36Uh-oh.
17:38Watch up there.
17:39These are the sorts of things that you're dealing with all the time.
17:42Uh-huh.
17:42Nothing in under there.
17:43That's not a snake.
17:44Very absurd.
17:46This is a classic.
17:47Sure, because they...
17:48Contain water.
17:49Yeah.
17:49So it attracts...
17:50Curl right up around there.
17:51Yep.
17:51It's got something to drink.
17:53And cool off it.
17:54Yep.
17:54Let me know if you see a snake, Doug.
17:57Looks fairly clean and open.
17:59Also, we've got an open door there.
18:01So what's that tell you?
18:02The door doesn't close properly like this.
18:06That's ample room for a snake to go through.
18:09A five-foot brown snake, six-foot brown snake can go through that with ease.
18:12We'll just have a look in...
18:14Excuse me.
18:14Does this door stay open all the time?
18:16It doesn't close properly?
18:17Since it goes out.
18:19This door could have well been open.
18:21Yep.
18:22It could be in your house then, right?
18:23Uh-huh.
18:24Yeah.
18:25Do you mind if we just come in?
18:27No, not at all.
18:28Have you noticed any mice in the area at all?
18:30Yeah, one or two.
18:32Okay.
18:33I did have one in the pantry at one stage.
18:35Right.
18:36Which I think I've got rid of.
18:38Right.
18:38Okay, well, just check in the pantry because she's noticed she's had mice in the place.
18:43All right.
18:43That door has got gaps on the side.
18:46Room enough for a big...
18:47Yeah, yeah.
18:48And you said there have been mice around?
18:51Yes.
18:52Yeah?
18:52Yes.
18:52Well, usually once a year you'll find there's a bit of a mouse plague, but...
18:57Yeah.
18:58A bit of a plague?
18:59Is that what you said?
19:00A little bit.
19:01We did get those here, unfortunately.
19:03Just a touch of plague.
19:06Hello.
19:06We've got a visitor.
19:07Something's happening.
19:08We've got some pretty big mice.
19:10Yeah.
19:11We'll turn this light on.
19:13Hello.
19:15That's a snake.
19:17That's an absolute snake right there.
19:20See where it's going to?
19:22No, it's vanished.
19:23It's behind a box back there somewhere.
19:24If he's up on that level...
19:26He's on this shelf right there.
19:28There he is.
19:28There's his head right there, right there, right there, right there.
19:29That's his head.
19:30Good one.
19:30Good one.
19:31Yep.
19:32So his head is behind that box right there.
19:36You know what?
19:36What if these boxes here got removed?
19:38Can you do that?
19:39Yep, I can get them out of you, Wayne.
19:41Hello.
19:42Yeah, we've got heaps of mice dropping.
19:43Good grief.
19:44Look at that.
19:45There's your...
19:45You've had mice feeding all the way through back here.
19:48Oh, okay.
19:50So that's why we've got a snake here.
19:52Yeah, he's back in there.
19:53No doubt about it.
19:54He'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.
20:05This is an unhappy snake.
20:06If you could get the box.
20:08There he is.
20:08Oh, that's always fast.
20:10Listen, I feel I'm pinned.
20:11I'm seriously pinned back here.
20:16Oh, that is not cool, man.
20:23Hey, Ian, this is a big snake.
20:25There he is.
20:25Oh, that's always fast.
20:27Listen, I feel I'm pinned.
20:28I'm seriously pinned back here.
20:33Oh, that is not cool, man.
20:39Not cool.
20:41All right, where's that other grabby, squishy thing?
20:43I've got them both here.
20:43You got it?
20:44You got it?
20:45How come you got both my tools in your hand?
20:47Well, you've only got two in your hand.
20:49Yeah, but you...
20:49Which one do you want?
20:50I just want something that might save my life.
20:53Okay.
20:54All right.
20:55Can you grab me?
20:56Now, hold on a second.
20:57See, when you're back there in that corner,
20:59you're just jammed in there like nobody's business.
21:01It's impossible to see your move.
21:02I'll see if I can get in.
21:03All right.
21:05Look at his head.
21:06Oh, jeez.
21:11He's not happy.
21:14Well done.
21:15You got it?
21:16I guess.
21:18Oh, look, there's his head.
21:19Oh, hi-ha.
21:20All right, should we put him in a bag here
21:21or take him outside?
21:23He's going to have to go outside.
21:24We can't put him in here.
21:25It's too slippery or so.
21:26Okay, okay, okay.
21:26Troy, step up.
21:28Okay.
21:28You should step back in.
21:30I don't know if I got him or not.
21:32I think I got him.
21:34All right, keep him low down to the ground.
21:37Take your gloves off.
21:39Okay.
21:41Okay, just there will do.
21:43Uh-huh.
21:43Too big for me.
21:44Now, pin him with your other end.
21:46All right, hold on.
21:47I'm trying to think.
21:47I want all my training to come back.
21:49That's it.
21:49So this was...
21:50Okay, right.
21:50I got to pin him like this, right?
21:52Pin him with this right behind his head.
21:55Yeah, if he's going to let you.
21:57Yep.
21:58That's a good one.
21:58That's good.
21:59I got it.
22:00Okay.
22:00Right, put it about there.
22:01Like that?
22:01That's pretty good.
22:02Okay.
22:02Now, from there, I'd let go with your claw.
22:06Is this a brown snake?
22:07This is a brown snake.
22:08Okay.
22:09This is number two on the hit list in the world.
22:10Believe me, we know all about number two on this show.
22:13I just have to ask you, are you sure you don't want me to just take its head off right
22:16now?
22:18I can't afford to find, mate.
22:19All right, all right.
22:20I'm going to keep my foot here.
22:22Yep.
22:23And I'm going to nudge this forward with my index finger like so.
22:27Yeah?
22:28Fuck.
22:28This is deadly.
22:29You get bit, you die in 14 minutes, right?
22:32Doing well.
22:32See your pantry, madam?
22:34In your pantry with your mice poop?
22:36All right?
22:38We're going to have to have a serious talk about your mice.
22:41And you're like this.
22:42You got to come in here like this.
22:44Get them like this.
22:44Can we move slightly?
22:47For those of you playing along at home, that sack is not made of Kevlar or some super safe
22:51space-age material.
22:53No, it's a pillowcase.
22:54And yeah, brown snake teeth can bite right through it.
22:58Something like...
22:59Ah, I don't know where his head is.
23:01I don't know.
23:01All I see is...
23:02That's all right.
23:02Stand up.
23:03Yeah, yeah.
23:04Pull this eye over.
23:05Yeah.
23:06Ah, crap.
23:06I dropped his tail.
23:07Can you grab his tail for me, man?
23:08That'd be great, thanks.
23:09Here, hold on for me.
23:11Yeah.
23:11I guess, see, see...
23:12Bring it over the top.
23:13Slowly, slowly.
23:15Grab it around.
23:15What the...
23:15Oh, that's the string.
23:16I thought it was the tail.
23:17Crab.
23:17Ah, grab it in.
23:19Yeah, yeah, it does stay in.
23:19Ah, look at that rookie move.
23:22It's almost as though I've never done this before.
23:25I sure hope that's his head still between my fingers.
23:27I bloody hope so, too.
23:28I really do, because I can't feel anything anymore.
23:30I don't know what it is.
23:31Let's put him on the ground.
23:32All right.
23:32And what's your hands?
23:33What are your hands?
23:34Oh, yeah.
23:35I feel him moving around.
23:36Hold on.
23:37Done.
23:39Huh?
23:41Very, very lucky.
23:43You've been lucky?
23:44You're a professional doing it.
23:46I'm very lucky.
23:49Oh.
23:50Pretty exciting, huh?
23:51Yeah.
23:52You know what?
23:52Here, I want you to have this.
23:55It's an honor.
23:57How are you, sir?
23:58I'm glad it was you.
23:59Yes, in your pantry.
24:00I'm glad it was me, too.
24:01I'm glad I hadn't started to make dinner.
24:05What's on the menu tonight?
24:06Snake.
24:06Excellent.
24:08Now, is it just me, but do you think it's kind of crazy that legally we have to release
24:11these things somewhere within the vicinity of where we caught them?
24:14I think it's crazy.
24:16I think it's crazy, too.
24:17I mean, legally, we have to leave this, I guess, in your bedroom at this point.
24:20Well, yes.
24:26As long as it's in a pillowcase, why wouldn't we take it to the bedroom?
24:30Yeah, this looks like a great place for some kids to come and play and swing.
24:33Let's go ahead and put the killers here.
24:34I just need to voice my concern one more time.
24:40We are going to follow the letter of the Australian law and release the second most venomous snake
24:46in the country back into the wild, approximately five kilometers from where we found them.
24:54We do this because we're law-abiding people, not because it's necessarily the smartest course of action.
25:00Would it be wrong to reintroduce them to the wild without taking them from the container?
25:06In other words, just tossing the whole thing?
25:08Uh, no, I would probably get done on an animal welfare act.
25:13Okay, right.
25:14And so, restraining the vigilante in me and all vestiges of common sense,
25:18I release four lethal reptiles and watch helplessly as they slither into the weeds.
25:23Yeah, all right, we'll lift them up.
25:25Spawn a clutch or two and return to Granny's food pantry or a residential pool filter near you.
25:32Sleep well, Adelaide.
25:34We said our goodbyes to Adelaide and traded wheels for wings.
25:38We flew the friendly skies to the other side of the continent,
25:41where on the coast of the Timor Sea, we found the capital of the Northern Territory of Australia,
25:47the city of Darwin.
25:50Welcome to Darwin.
25:54Here in Darwin, the pest control business operates a bit more like the dirty jobs you've come to love,
26:00which is good, because at night, a menacing evil emerges from the darkness, killing without mercy.
26:07It's not a dingo, or a rabid wallaby, or a deranged kangaroo.
26:13It's a toad.
26:14Specifically, the cane toad.
26:16For a little background, in the 1930s, an obscure beetle was destroying the sugarcane crops of northern Australia.
26:24So authorities imported 102 of these guys.
26:27Of course, the cane toad didn't eat the beetle.
26:30What they did do was have a lot of sex and eat everything else.
26:34The cane toad consumes 200 times more food than native frogs.
26:38By some estimates, there are now over a billion of them.
26:41The cane toad has become the cockroach of the amphibian species.
26:46What makes them so dangerous?
26:47Well, they excrete a venom through their glands behind their ears.
26:50So when the indigenous species of Australia eat them, they get a serious case of food poisoning and die.
26:57Some reptiles have seen a 90% drop in population.
27:01The cane toad is literally destroying the northern Australian ecosystem.
27:06So, what do Australians do to take care of this problem?
27:09Well, here in Darwin, they elect a toadmaster and use them for sport.
27:16What's your name?
27:17Cliff.
27:18Cliff, Mike.
27:19Mike, please speak.
27:19You are the toadmaster?
27:21Yep.
27:21So they're poisonous?
27:22Yeah.
27:23Yeah, they're poisonous.
27:24So what about touching them like this?
27:26I mean, it's...
27:26As long as I wash my hands later on, yeah, because they put out a poison.
27:30Cane toads are harmful to humans only if you eat them or lick them.
27:34So don't do that.
27:35Some idiots, you get them.
27:36Licking them.
27:37Licking them.
27:38Crazy.
27:38People lick anything.
27:39Yeah, just...
27:40Is there a...
27:42Like a giant one on record?
27:44The biggest cane toad ever?
27:46There is.
27:47Tell you the truth, it is in Queensland.
27:50Well, I'll tell you.
27:52He's awake.
27:53Get him.
28:04Dave has offered to buy Doug's drinks for the rest of the trip.
28:08If, Doug, can you eat?
28:11Come on, Doug.
28:12Five minutes, right?
28:14I'll give you five minutes.
28:15Go.
28:18He's eating the whole thing.
28:20Minutes 22.
28:21This is a lot heavier than Doug.
28:22Come on, Doug.
28:24It's 215.
28:25Come on, Doug.
28:27That is so nasty.
28:29Just under three minutes.
28:30You've got to feel good about this.
28:31It's a big effort.
28:33Oh, my God.
28:35Four minutes and 41.4 seconds.
28:44Nothing more Australian than a cane toad race, I reckon.
28:48It's certainly up there in the top five.
28:5120 cane toads have arrived in a sack.
28:55One by one, we are preparing them for battle.
28:59Or at least, ah, competition.
29:02You've got to be very careful with the cane toad.
29:03Aside from being poisonous, they are profoundly incontinent.
29:09That is disappointing.
29:12To bring you all the incredible excitement of this important event
29:15and chew up some valuable TV time,
29:18my crew devised a way to put you right in the middle of the toad action.
29:22We've done a lot of questionable things.
29:24This is another one.
29:26Doug, you really are an artist.
29:30It...
29:30It's going to be...
29:31It's going to be too far.
29:32One could say his movement's slightly impeded.
29:37I mean, that works.
29:39You know, it's working.
29:41It's going to work.
29:41It's going to be forward.
29:42That's fine.
29:44All right.
29:44Find somebody to grab him before he's gone.
29:46Yeah, can you get him, please?
29:47Pick him up.
29:48Pick him up before he goes outside, Brian.
29:52Okay, all right.
29:52This will be number three.
29:54As you can see, number three is going to be working with a slight handicap.
29:58That would be twice his weight.
30:01All right, good.
30:02Now, should we watch the poison off our hands?
30:05That would be a good idea.
30:06Just...
30:09Back here?
30:16Just trying to get a little bit of the poison off my hands.
30:22All right, everybody.
30:23You got a chair for your toad?
30:26All right, everybody.
30:28All right.
30:30Let's go, 13.
30:32That goes, 13.
30:35Oh, my goodness.
30:36Number 11.
30:42Come on, baby.
30:43Come on.
30:44Come on.
30:46Come on.
30:47Come on.
30:48Come on.
30:49Come on.
30:50Oh, you got to get the...
30:51There you go.
30:52Oh, that's right.
30:58Fourth place.
30:59Number 11.
31:00Who's there?
31:01Number 11.
31:01A tradition for winning the co-toad race.
31:04You get to hold your winning toad.
31:06Yeah, hold it.
31:06And you give it a nice little peck on the cheek.
31:08No, that's not happening.
31:11We should have got a couple hundred...
31:12There you go.
31:13Look at that.
31:13He's even smiling.
31:14That would peat all over me before, so it's empty.
31:17So you're safe.
31:18Are you sure?
31:19No, I made that up.
31:22Freedom.
31:23Oh, freedom.
31:27Oh.
31:29Oh.
31:32Got me.
31:34I'll be dead by morning.
31:35You got to love how the Aussies deal with a biological war.
31:39They literally play games with their enemies.
31:41It's good for morale, but not all that effective in getting rid of them.
31:47Graham Sawyer is the former mayor of Darwin and something of a crusader.
31:52A self-proclaimed toad buster, his crusade is to combat this massive ecological nightmare
31:58by ridding the town of all cane toads.
32:02A true patriot, he will not sit idly by as his country is overrun by an army of non-indigenous
32:09amphibians.
32:10Now, I was correct when I said that you were the mayor of Darwin?
32:14Yeah, yes.
32:15Lord Mayor of Darwin up until recently.
32:16Lord Mayor?
32:17Yeah.
32:18Is there a difference between a mayor and a Lord Mayor?
32:19No, look, it's something to do with the size of the city and the capital city status.
32:24I don't think we've ever had a lord on the show before, so it's a big day for us.
32:29So, what's the goal tonight?
32:30Look, the goal tonight is just to get rid of every toad that's around this area.
32:34This is a perfect habitat for cane toads down here because they've got a bit of moisture
32:38and lots of nice short grass, and they like to hunt in short grass because they're very
32:42much a visual hunting animal.
32:43We'll be hunting them as they're hunting whatever they hunt.
32:45That's right.
32:46They'll be out eating insects and anything else that moves.
32:49Yeah.
32:50Mike, there's your first victim.
32:52Where is that?
32:53You see the eye there and the...
32:54Oh, yeah.
32:55It's falling across the grass there.
32:55The hatred of the cane toad is so widespread, the townspeople from all ages join in for
33:02the popular toad hunts.
33:03Oh, yeah, there's two.
33:10Oh.
33:11Can't get in there.
33:12Smart.
33:13Oh, look, he ran for cover.
33:15Oh, now he darted off.
33:17In this entire toad-busting operation, nobody gets paid.
33:22It's a complete volunteer militia.
33:25God, I really don't know how to stop peeing.
33:27The irony is ironic.
33:30A handful of non-indigenous toads are brought in to control a local pest.
33:34Eighty years later, the non-indigenous toads are a much bigger problem, and the entire
33:38ecosystem of northern Australia is under siege.
33:42Disgusting animals.
33:45There's one.
33:46So let's hear it for Graham, a man of action who knows his enemy.
33:50Good catch.
33:51So that's actually, um, you just have a look at his back.
33:55Mm-hmm.
33:56If you rub your finger down there, feel how rough that is like sandpaper.
33:59That's a boy.
33:59And they've also got the yellow underneath.
34:01Yellow underneath on the throat and a hard back.
34:04There's a boy.
34:05Just say no to toads.
34:07No.
34:07No.
34:08No.
34:17See?
34:18That's the sound.
34:21Just when I thought toad hunting was a relatively risk-free operation.
34:28Yeah, just a nice little water hole.
34:30And the toads have found it and love it.
34:33Graham led me down to the swampy river bank.
34:36Water's down to the left?
34:37Yeah, just down here.
34:39Crocodiles have got really, really bright eye shined.
34:42If you see any very bright red eyes looking at you out of here, then you can start to worry.
34:48There's a lot of stuff alive in here.
34:57What do you see?
35:02What kind of snake is that?
35:03Keelback.
35:05Say again?
35:06Keelback.
35:07Keelback?
35:08Poisonous?
35:09No.
35:10All right, enough already with the spooky music.
35:12It's not even poisonous.
35:14And let's be honest, what the heck am I even doing here?
35:16I'm a hot and sweaty grown man running around in the dark with a bunch of boys.
35:20It's weird.
35:21I'm so scared.
35:23If you've just joined us, we're circling a dam outside of Darwin and looking for cane
35:28toads.
35:30So the job is ambitious and maybe futile.
35:34Get rid of a gajillion poisonous cane toads.
35:37It's hard to pee on me when you're upside down.
35:39Isn't it?
35:40Futile or not, when you love Australia as much as Graham Sawyer does, you'll do whatever
35:45you can to make a dent in the toad population, even if it feels like chasing windmills.
35:52I'm going to pick up one right back there, but I'm not going to see many.
35:55You got a couple, three, two.
35:58Maybe it's working.
35:59Yeah, well.
36:00Maybe they see these shirts coming and they just run through the hills.
36:04Like, oh no, that looks like me with a circle around my head and a line through me.
36:09So we bring the toads to Graham Sawyer's garage, where they will join millions of their brethren
36:14in that great choir invisible and shuffle off their non-indigenous mortal coils.
36:18That's right.
36:19We're going to kill them.
36:20Squeeze like so.
36:21Give it a turn.
36:22The gas is carbon dioxide.
36:24The toads breathe it in, meet Mr. Sandman, and croak no more.
36:30It's like an anesthetic, basically.
36:32Yeah.
36:33Count backwards from 100 game toads.
36:37So again, just to recap, it's a war, basically.
36:41Well, it is, really, yeah.
36:42I mean, it's a massive war, really, to try and defend our native wildlife.
36:46Yeah.
36:48You mentioned something about recycling, ashes to ashes, some final step involved here.
36:53Yeah, well, the next step we've worked out is a fertilizer process, where we can put
36:58all the dead cane toads into fertilizer, rather than just dumping them.
37:01How efficient is the fertilizer?
37:03Yeah, look, it's pretty good.
37:04It's particularly good for vegetables and flowers.
37:07It's high in potassium.
37:08Yeah.
37:08It seems to work.
37:09So when exactly do we go through the fertilizing process?
37:14Well, we do that tomorrow.
37:15That's a daylight job, thank goodness.
37:16Oh, good.
37:17We'll just leave these here in your garage, then?
37:18Yeah, well, we've got a freezer over there.
37:20We're going to put them in there, as well.
37:22Great.
37:23The old toad freezer.
37:26Oh, are those toads, as well?
37:28They are, pretty much.
37:30How many toads in here, altogether?
37:31Oh, it looks hard to say.
37:34It's starting to smell like something.
37:36Yeah, there's a few in here that didn't get processed as well as they might have.
37:44There we go.
37:46Perfect.
37:47Okay.
37:48So tomorrow we come back and we turn them into fertilizer.
37:52Yeah.
37:53Welcome to part three of our cane toad adventure.
37:56Of course, we met Dave in the second part of day one, where we encountered the toads.
38:00That's Graham, by the way.
38:01This is so complicated.
38:03You're Dave.
38:05Graham, feel free to correct me on camera at any time, especially when it involves something
38:09as personal as your name.
38:12What I meant to say was, we're with Graham Sawyer, former Lord Mayor of Darwin and King
38:18of the Toadbusters.
38:20And today we're transforming frozen toads into fertilizer.
38:23They really assume kind of an action pose when they're frozen.
38:28Yeah, you can get the whole set.
38:31Call now, a limited time offer.
38:33So lifelike.
38:35Oh, that's unusual.
38:38Sculpture.
38:38Ice sculpture.
38:39Oh, this is, oh, here they were.
38:40Well, these two were mating in the final moments.
38:43So we're just going to take all these out and put them in the back of the truck.
38:52This, I think, has real possibilities.
38:55Troy, you just had a little baby.
38:56What's her name again?
38:58Josephine.
38:59Josephine.
38:59The little Josephine loved this.
39:02You could put it in, like, the Dirty Jobs soundtrack, and it would slowly spin.
39:07It would teach you so much about wildlife.
39:11With the frozen toads fast defrosting, we made our way to the fertilizer processing area.
39:16I like to think of it more like a funeral processional, with the added urgency of an
39:21emergency vehicle strobe.
39:24After all, we had a couple hundred cane toads on their way to burial, with all the dignified
39:29respectability Australia can offer.
39:33You're not.
39:41If you're wondering if toads smell a little bit after they've been frozen and slowly thaw
39:45out, they do.
39:49That's a snake.
39:50That's a big snake.
39:51What kind of snake is this?
39:52Big olipotin.
39:53He was a rat, killed it.
39:55Oh.
39:56I think he was one that got handed in because he died from eating a cane toad.
40:00Really?
40:01Well, that's kind of fascinating.
40:04Oh, so here's a first-hand look at why the cane toad's got to go.
40:10He was quite a snake.
40:12Yeah, he was.
40:13That visual tells the story better than anything I could say.
40:16Yeah, look, it's a really sad, sad story.
40:19So all over Queensland, certainly, and other parts, your indigenous species are basically
40:24dying because they're eating, licking, or otherwise biting these things, which are everywhere.
40:32Let's go ahead and liquefy them.
40:35What is it?
40:35Potassium hydroxide.
40:37Oh, yeah.
40:38You just...
40:39Do you make that sound when you do it?
40:45How long is it taking to liquefy?
40:46Most of those will be gone in four or five days.
40:52So in four or five days, the hydrogen potassium...
40:55Potassium hydroxide will start to...
40:57Break them down.
40:58Break them down.
40:58They'll just turn to brown soup.
41:00And so the soupy toad juice will fertilize the fields and gardens of Australia,
41:05where the protected brown snake will continue to slither along
41:08until it chows down on a poisonous cane toad and dies
41:12before it can get caught in someone's pantry and be released back into the wild.
41:17It's a never-ending cycle, or, as the poet said,
41:20the toad not taken.
41:22Part to know when the show is over.
41:24That's it.
41:24Let's get started.
41:24Who's in charge of something that does come to you?
41:25There are all right.
41:25They hope I do not get back into the swing.
41:25So on, and you can see where there isษ
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