An Australian TV host, known for daredevilry and risking his life to relocate animals on his show, is finding himself at the receiving end of criticism for letting his son, a toddler, handle a giant snake. After a video of the incident he shared on Instagram went viral, Matt Wright has been severely criticised online for jeopardizing his son's safety. The hair-raising clip shows the toddler holding the snake by its tail. The kid tried to pull the reptile into the field but could not bear its weight. Realising that he was doing something dangerous, he soon ran towards his father crying for help.
“Oh no, oh no, oh no,” the two-year-old Banjo cried as he dropped the tail. Then he came dangerously close to the snake's head and Wright had to pull him away. “Come back, come back. He's gonna bite,” says Wright and directs him – again – towards the tail.
"Learning the ropes,” reads the caption of the Instagram post.
“Grab the tail. There you go, grab the tail. Two hands, two hands,” the presenter of the National Geographic show Outback Wrangler tells his son.
While the video got more than 3.87 lakh views, many people commenting on it expressed their disapproval.
“Normally I love your videos. But I' not a fan of this behaviour. No need to stress the animal just for an Instagram video,” said a user
Another wrote, “Snake is not a toy.”
“Everything about this is stupid and wrong,” read a comment.
Still, some appeared to like the video and not everyone was critical.
“He reminds me of Steve Irwin, a legend,” said a follower, referring to another popular TV host, zookeeper nicknamed “The Crocodile Hunter”. Irwin died in 2006 when he was pierced in the chest by a stingray barb while filming a wildlife documentary.
A person wrote, “Might want to get him a bit higher on the tail, nothing beats early learning.”
The snake shown in the video appears to be an Olive python, Australia's second-largest snake which can have a length of over 10 feet. Olive pythons are non-venomous and believed to be harmless to humans.
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