It may seem like anti-venom is made in abundance in Australia, after all, we have plenty of snakes! But the story is quite the opposite. Although it saves the lives of 300 Aussies every year, making anti-venom is quite a difficult and dangerous process. And, there’s only one place in Australia that does it.
This week on Better Homes and Gardens, Dr Harry Cooper visited the newly refurbished Weigel Venom Centre, home to the only snake-milking lab across the nation.
The Weigel Venom Centre is located in the Australian Reptile Park, and shows everything you need to know about venomous snakes, snake bites and anti-venom. Here’s what we learned from Dr Harry’s visit:
How is anti-venom made?
Anti-venom is made in the Weigel Venom Centre by extracting or milking a venomous snake of its venom. It is then frozen and sent to CSL Seqiris laboratory in Melbourne, Victoria.
The Weigel Venom Centre is the sole supplier of snake venom for the Anti-Venom Program.
At the Weigel Venom Centre, Dr Harry and Operations Manager, Billy Collett, go through the collection process with a Death Adder. They extract the venom by grasping the snake tightly and letting it inject its venom into a small, plastic-covered glass.
It takes more than 25 ‘milkings’ to make a full anti-venom vial. Each small glass is then frozen, freeze-dried and collated before being sent off to the lab for production of anti-venom. Find out more about how anti-venom is made from the Australian Reptile Park website.
The Weigel Venom Centre extracts venom from 5 different kinds of venomous snakes:
- King Brown Snake
- Eastern Brown Snake
- Tiger Snake
- Death Adder
- Coastal Taipan
According to the Australian Reptile Park, “the venom of each species is unique, consisting of a combination of complex proteins, which act on the prey or bite victim in various ways.” This means that each type of anti-venom is slightly different.
What to do if you are bitten by a snake
Follow along with Dr Harry and Billy Collett as they demonstrate how to look after a snake bite.
If you do come across a snake, it is important to try not to disturb it. If you are bitten by a snake, seek help from a health professional immediately. While knowing the type of snake you are bitten by can be very useful, it is not recommended to try and capture or interfere with a snake in any way.
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