Australia fines man for surfing with python wrapped around neck

Sydney, Australia, Sep 18 (EFE).- Australian authorities have fined a man who went surfing with his python and recorded it in a video that went viral, official sources reported Monday.

The Queensland Environment and Science Department said in a statement that the man, identified in local media as Higor Fiuza, has been fined for violating the conditions of his permit to possess a snake.

In the video he shared earlier this month on social media, Fiuza appears with a surfboard while the snake, a three-year-old “Morelia bredli” named Shiva, hangs coiled from his neck on a Gold Coast beach in Queensland.

However, the permit stipulates that these types of pets cannot be taken from their usual habitat unless it is to take them to the veterinarian, a buyer or an authorized exhibition.

“The man caught our attention when we saw in the local media that he was taking his python surfing,” said Jonathan McDonald, an official with the department.

“Taking an animal into a public place or exhibiting it requires a special permit,” McDonald said, adding that taking these animals out of their usual places can cause them stress and cause them to behave unpredictably.

“Snakes are obviously cold-blooded animals and, although they can swim, reptiles normally avoid water,” the expert said. “The python would find the water extremely cold, and the only snakes that should be in the ocean are sea snakes.”

When the video of the surfing snake went viral, Fiuza told state broadcaster ABC that he had taken Shiva out surfing at least 10 times on Australia’s northeast coast.

“I always took her to the beach and she loved being in the water swimming, so one day I decided to take her surfing and she loved it,” said the Australian, who will now have to pay a fine for the incident. EFE

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